Beef packing capacity rebound crucial

Temporary closures and slowdowns of packing plants due to the COVID-19 pandemic have created unprecedented product flow disruptions and price gyrations in the meat protein supply chain. Year-over-year declines in cattle slaughter progressively worsened through April. Weekly cattle slaughter dropped by 17% for the week ending April 11 to a decline of 35% for the week ending May 2. Week-over-week slaughter increases in early May fueled guarded optimism that the worst of packing plant disruptions are over. Still, more than a month and counting with severely reduced slaughter means a backlog of slaughter cattle is growing rapidly. Read more at Farm Progress…