Food for Thought in Cattle – Pete Loewen – 08/16/2024
Back on Monday we got the monthly crop production report out from USDA and they also release S&D’s for the meats every month, along with that grain data. The production projections for beef continue to look really bullish. Back in 2022, beef production set an all-time record of over 28 bln lbs, it dropped off hard in 2023 to just over 27 bln, this year’s projection is 26.8 bln lbs and in 2025 the latest prognostication is for 25.5 bln lbs. Sharply declining production is great for bullish banter by analysts, but there’s a lot bigger picture to digest then just the production total. Beef exports have dropped considerably from a year ago with next year looking even worse. Imports have increased significantly also and…