Meat surplus reported -- So why aren't the store prices coming down?

News reports tell us this: Federal Data: US Stockpiling 2.5 Billion Pounds of Meat:

A record amount of beef, pork, poultry, and turkey - 2.5 billion pounds - is being stockpiled in U.S. facilities, federal data is expected to show, The Wall Street Journal reported.

While U.S. consumers have a growing appetite for meat, that appetite is not increasing fast enough to match the production of hogs and chickens in the U.S. meat industry, so the industry is depending more on exports, the report said.

However, Mexico and China, two of the largest foreign customers for U.S. meat, have set tariffs on pork products in response to U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other goods. U.S. hams, chops, and livers have become more expensive in those markets, which is slowing down sales, said industry officials.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation projected that U.S. beef exports to China could have reached $400 million in four years, Fortune noted.

The growing stockpiles and the trade risk could cause "one of the biggest corrections we’ve seen in the industry in several years," Christine McCracken, protein analyst at agricultural lender Rabobank, told the Journal.

Facilities are being built and expanded to store the meat frozen. (Aside: What percentage of the poultry, pork, and beef in markets is or was frozen? If one assumes those labels that say "never frozen" are the extent of the products that were never frozen, then it must be a pretty high percentage.)

Meanwhile, they are blaming Trump's tariffs for this market condition. Well, I for one am ready to loosen my belt and eat more poultry once the prices go down to reflect the surplus. They haven't yet, but I'm ready to do what I can to make America great again.

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12:21 PM 7/24/2018

Comments

[Really?]

Well if you're going to help eat 'Merica out of this mess, I hope you like chicken leg quarters, pig feet and cushion meat, and beef livers. Bon appetit, big fella.