June 15

6/15 - Most meat processing plants have recovered remarkably from COVID-19 shutdowns. Non-symptomatic workers are finishing quarantine and reporting back to work. New operating procedures seem to be working. Slaughter rates are getting back to pre-shutdown levels. Federally inspected (FI) cattle slaughter, which had declined by 19.3% (year-over-year) in April/May, was off just 3.0% during the first 2 weeks of June. Similarly, FI hog slaughter, down 10.8% April/May, is off just 1.0% so far in June.

For an in-depth look at plant and production capacity and how it will affect meat prices, on Thursday, June 18, John Barone will interview Dhamu Thamodaran, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Commodity Hedging Officer of Smithfield Foods. The topic will be “High Meat Prices and Plant Closures – How Much Longer?”