July 6

7/6 – In the June 25th Cattle on Feed report, the USDA said feedlot inventories (at 11.7M head on June 1st), were up 0.2% from a year ago and the 2nd largest June inventory on record. New feedlot placements in May were down 6.9% from last year and 7.4% below May 2019. Feedlots are full. It’s processing capacity that’s been the issue - but there is some progress. Beef production in May (daily basis) was up 18% from a year ago and was 4.5% higher than 2019. With the major grilling holidays behind us, middle meat prices peaked in mid-June and have trended lower since. That’s not been the case for trimmings prices. Australian beef exports are down 24% YTD and we can’t make up the difference domestically. Lean beef 90s trimmings are $2.82/lb. compared with $2.44 a year ago and $2.25 in 2019. Beef 50s trimmings are $1.12 compared to a prior, 3-year average of $.69.