Ed Czerwien, market analyst based in Amarillo, Texas, offers a concise summary of last week's beef cutout trade -- and a crazy week it's been with panic buying happening at grocery stores around the country.

Ed Czerwien, Market Reporter

March 20, 2020

The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week on Friday at $208.14 which was $0.67 higher compared to the previous Friday. It has been continuing to creep higher for 3 weeks, but unfortunately we are not seeing as big of a jump as a typical grilling season rally yet.  

The really big news this week was the tremendous meat sales at the retail stores over this last weekend as people went to stores to get more food no doubt impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The real proof that those sales were very tremendous everywhere was that the Monday morning Choice cutout was over $12 dollars higher at $220.51 as retailers reordered beef to refill their shelves. Sales were 199 loads which was extremely large for morning sales. However, it climbed even higher later on Monday, as well as Tuesday, when it was $239.93 which was almost $32 dollars higher in two days. The daily sales volume was also tremendous with 566 loads in those two days alone. That is more than the total during most normal weeks.

 

About the Author(s)

Ed Czerwien

Market Reporter

Ed Czerwien is a market analyst in Amarillo, Texas. From the heart of Cattle Feeding Country, Ed follows the cattle and wholesale markets to keep beef producers up-to-date on the market moves that affect them. He previously worked with USDA as a Market News reporter. Ed is now semi-retired and continues to work with cattle trade analysis.

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