Meat market read, Thursday, May 14, 2026

Boneless ribeye at 1163¢/lb is shedding 155¢/lb in a single session, and that kind of single-day gap in a middle meat usually signals the bid dried up fast, not that fundamentals turned. Beef cutout is easing broadly while pork is printing firm on genuinely heavy loads across multiple buyers, which puts the two proteins pointing in opposite directions for the first time in several sessions. Short ribs at 634¢/lb are down on the week but history adds roughly 15¢/lb from here into late May, so the ends complex isn't collapsing the way middles are. The real tension is in trim: 81s are flat on the day but down 42¢/lb on the month, while 50% chemical lean has shed 6¢/lb today after running up 9¢/lb over the past month, and seasonal history still points another 14¢/lb forward from current levels. With rounds under export-demand softness, inside and outside rounds are loosening into domestic supply. The next directional read arrives when this week's full pork load data settles against beef's easing cutout.

meatread.com