June 14

6/14 - Here’s how the JBS plant closures affected meat supplies. In beef, the daily weekday (Mon-Fri) slaughter average for the 2 weeks prior to Memorial Day weekend was 118,760 head per day. That compares to just 94,000 head slaughtered on 6/1 and 105,000 on 6/2. So, the hack caused total U.S. cattle slaughter numbers (not just JBS) to drop by 20.8% on 6/1 and by 11.6% on 6/2. On a weekly basis, factoring in the Memorial Day holiday, slaughter numbers (Sun-Sat) were down 17.3% compared to the average of the prior 2 weeks. U.S. hog slaughter on 6/1 was down 17.3% for the day and declined 17.2% for the week. U.S. broiler slaughter was down just 4.8% for the day, but factor in the holiday and it was off 10.8% for the week compared with the prior 2 weeks. They cyber-attack isn’t responsible for high prices of the past several months, but it definitely added fuel to the fire.