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Poultry

The season for wings has arrived, but there are still many options at reasonable costs. Product is easily accessible, and tender availability is rising. Seasonally low breast prices will persist through the end of the year, but estimates for slower production will result in a supply shortage. Thigh meat without a bone is widely accessible.

Beef

As the business adapts to decreasing supply, harvest rates, fed cattle prices, and primal values will all fluctuate significantly outside of historical price trends. There will be less stock on grocery store shelves along with the drop. The market appears to have “frozen” in place as a result of back-to-back decreased harvest weeks and winter storms moving across the nation. Due to possibly low stockpiles, ribs and tenderloin prices have remained stable within the tight delivery window. Strips remain stable; this cut, combined with top butts, has satisfied customer needs and helped the market bounce back from the lows experienced only a few weeks before. Rounds and Chucks are solid.

Pork

Futures for lean hogs finished lower. February reached a two-week low and is getting close to being oversold. However, due to the unpredictable weather across the US, pork supplies are generally low. Slower demand results in fewer hams. Light volume and steady bellies were present. Trims were in high demand.

The Sea

Seafood

  Lobster season in Nova Scotia is coming to an end. Larger tails were disrupted by unfavorable weather. Reductions on Cod and increases for Pollock were announced by Alaska. Landing remain below average for brown shrimp, though the white shrimp season so far has been better than expected.   

The Garden

Produce

Overall supplies across most commodities continue to see improvement due to warmer temperatures in the growing regions. These increased supplies have helped markets continue their downward trend. The Imperial Valley and Yuma growing regions saw rainfall towards the beginning of the week, which caused slight delays in the fields. However, supplies have continued to increase over the past few weeks and markets continued their downward trends.

The Kitchen Sink

Dairy

Higher prices on eggs have started to curb demand. Cheese markets have the potential for softness if demand slows though markets rose last week.

Grain

Due to the dry weather in South America, particularly Argentina, pressure is being placed on soybean oil prices and, in fact, the entire soybean complex. Production of palm oil has been impacted by the severe rains in Malaysia, and Indonesia is once again revising its export regulations. Canola has not altered much.