Agribusiness Weekly Update: Meat prices move higher

Chicken
The chicken processing margin averaged 2 cents a pound, 13-cents better than a year ago. Broiler egg sets were down 4.7% to 198 million eggs. Heads slaughtered declined 4.8% year over year, while pounds produced fell 1.5%. March typically marks the start of a seasonal rise in breast meat pricing. Breast meat traded at $1.34 per pound, up 1 cent from a year ago. The broiler retail composite – cents per retail pound – totaled $1.83 in February, up 2.9% from last year.

Table Eggs
The egg margin averaged 24 cents per dozen, 8 cents higher than a year ago. Southeast egg prices were 95 cents a dozen, up 9 cents from a year ago

Grains
Cash corn prices finished the week up 24 cents to $6.70 per bushel and 2.3% higher than a year ago. Soybean prices jumped 40 cents to $13.55 per bushel. Prices hit a six month high, and are up 1.9% from a year ago.

Beef
U.S. beef packers lost $42.61 per head processed, versus $43.11 earned a year ago. Cattle slaughter was flat compared to last year, while beef production was up 2.4%. Live cattle prices were up 11% year-over-year. Retail all beef prices averaged $4.61 per pound in Feb., up 6.1% from a year ago.  

Hogs & Pork
Pork processors lost $1.32 per head last week, compared to $16.36 profited last year. Weekly hog slaughter numbers rose 1.6%, while pork production increased 1.7% compared to 2011. The retail price for pork in February was $3.50 per pound, up 6.5% from last year.

Dairy
Milk production in February rose 8% from a year ago. Retail whole milk prices averaged $3.52 per gallon in February, up 4.9% from a year ago.

Ethanol & Energy
The ethanol crush margin averaged 53 cents per gallon, up 14 cents from last week and 6 cents below last year. Ethanol averaged $2.36 per gallon, trading at a $1 discount to gasoline.