Weekly Meat Read Archive

China put a 55% tariff on Brazilian beef on October 1, once Brazil filled its 2026 quota there. Brazil's biggest customer just got expensive, and that beef has to go somewhere. Muc…

Lean beef trim and fat beef trim have been further apart in price this summer than at any time in the USDA record. 50CL is near 88 c/lb. 90CL is near 411 c/lb. Every week since ear…

Both ends of the meat case are at extremes at once. The derind belly printed about 105 this week, some 41% under a normal third week of September, while Choice strip loin sits abou…

Cash cattle sat still at about $219 and the Choice cutout slipped to around 376, but live cattle futures jumped 2.5% and now trade right on top of cash. Futures are pricing tighter…

Cash cattle gave up almost $6 to about $219 while the Choice cutout barely moved, so the packer kept the difference and the cattle-cutout spread widened to about $492 a head. Live…

The cutout has gone nowhere for two weeks, sitting near 376 cents with a softer Friday print, and grade is the reason. The Choice to Select spread collapsed to about 15 cents from…

The Choice cutout pushed to about 386 cents while cash cattle dropped almost $7, and the two moves together handed packers the biggest one-week margin swing in three years. Retaile…

Tyson shut its Joslin, Illinois beef plant Friday without warning and put its Pasco, Washington plant up for sale, and cattle futures fell hard on the news while the cutout kept fi…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ Last week we called the flat week a pause, not a bottom. It was a bottom. Strip loin and short loin have both climbed two weeks running, and the belly call we…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ Beef prices have come down about 6.5% in a month, which is the first real break buyers have had since spring. This week they stopped. One flat week is not the…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: July 26, 2026 THIS WEEK Lean hogs crashed 12.4% on the board while pork packers hold profitable; the board and the product are now in open disagreement.…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: July 18, 2026 THIS WEEK The cutout is in a confirmed breakdown; the board, the spread, and the tape are all pointing the same direction. Live cattle futu…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: July 11, 2026 THIS WEEK The Choice/Select spread compressed to 14.35 cents; grade premium is disappearing faster than supply is tightening. Strip loin an…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: July 5, 2026 THIS WEEK Live cattle futures dropped 7.1% in five days while cash held firm; the board expects less ahead. Select strip loins cleared at a…

THIS WEEK Tight beef supply stopped mattering this week: demand cracked faster, and strip loin fell under its 5yr norm for the first time since April. Retail pulled beef middle-mea…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: June 22, 2026 THIS WEEK Choice Select spread widened to 22.29 cents, widest in thirteen weeks, supply wins. Beef middle ad share surged 13.36 points week…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: June 15, 2026 THIS WEEK Choice Select spread surged to widest in three months on genuine quality pull. Net beef production posted second consecutive cont…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: June 08, 2026 THIS WEEK Packer spread collapsed to 71 per head; implied margin band now minus 329 to minus 179. Choice Select spread rebuilt to 10.01 cen…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: May 31, 2026 THIS WEEK Packer margins at negative 190 per head; kill dropped 6.7% year over year, hard. Choice Select spread rebuilt to 8.29 cents as Cho…

THE WEEKLY MEAT READ DATE: May 18, 2026 THIS WEEK Packer margins reached -$218 per head, the worst week in 6 months, yet Choice cutout climbed. Choice Select spread collapsed to 1.…

THE WEEKLY MEAT REED DATE: May 10, 2026 THIS WEEK Packer margins underwater at $81 per head but cutouts held within pennies of last week. Choice share of boxed beef trade dropped t…