USDA Trimming Outlook for 2017 Beef Production

The USDA is revising their beef production outlook for 2017, though it still tops 2016’s totals.

Outlook Board Chair Seth Meyer said they’re cutting 100 million pounds from this year’s expected totals.

“On what we’re observing as lower slaughter numbers and a little bit lighter carcass weight in 2017 and a little bit of a decrease in expectations for 2018 on the same expected lighter slaughter weights.”

The new forecast shows 26.3 billion pounds of beef production for the current year and USDA took 30 billion pounds off the 2018 projections dropping them to 27.6 billion pounds.

Meyer said the increase in production in 2018 will hurt prices.

“That’s reflected in about a $4 loss in prices year over year.”

The new expected price for 2018 is $117.25 per hundredweight compared to $121.42 in 2017.