Bacon Buying Benched

Take a seat bacon purchasers- it's a "buy what you need time". We’ve been looking for this market to move lower the last couple weeks and finally seeing it.  Last week’s harvest of 639K head was slightly down from the prior week’s 643K but with pretty mild demand the available product to demand is getting a bit out of balance.  Chucks, rounds, and thin meats are all moving lower, ribeyes and tenderloins finally showing weakness, loins are holding about steady.  Ground beef is the only segment still moving higher but I think that may top out over the next week or so.  I think we are  in a buy time over the next couple weeks, I don’t think this soft market will last but a few weeks as everyone has an eye on spring and improving demand.  Pork production continues to lag with production down 3% from the prior week and 8.5% behind last year.  Bellies closed yesterday at $179 up from last weeks $161.  I originally thought we would be at the peak by now but now I’m thinking this inflated belly market may have some legs.  For the time being, I’m on the sideline with buying bacon in this market, just buy what you need.  Butts and loins both moving higher as well.  Spring usually see increase in pork but that may be muted this year since… well, we are already there.  What an interesting chicken market.  Breast and tenders continue to be tight and moving higher.  Wings are high, no great bargains to be found, but they are available, very different from last year.  So plenty of wings for Super Bowl and March Madness coming in a few weeks.  Chicken producers seem to be intent to meet current demands.  As with so much these days though, labor and transportation present the biggest challenges.  Whole chickens are where the value is if you have the labor talent and ability to sell the whole bird.   Start with corn, current market is $6.53 up from last weeks $6.29.  Same story, bad news from South America, good export demand, limited carryover from last year.  Expect corn to stay expensive, meaning feeding animals stays expensive.  Soy started cranking up last week and it hasn’t stopped this week.  we are at the highest market since October last year.  I’d stay ahead on soy products as I don’t think there will be any real breaks coming soon.  Wheat was holding fairly steady for a couple weeks but this week sees both Hard Red winter wheat and Soft Spring Wheat are moving higher again.  If you are a big flour users I’d stay will ahead on my needs.  Finally a look at dairy and butter is done moving lower after three weeks of decline and is up $.08 through Thursday’s close.  Block is up $.03 and Barrel up $.05.  We are in a pretty high dairy market now above pricing for all of 2021.  Traditionally we see dairy move higher into spring so increases may be a bit muted with already inflated market.  Enjoy your wings watching the Super Bowl. Sources: http://www.cheesereporter.com/prices.htmhttps://www.ams.usda.gov/market-news/swine-reportsSavalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn