Beef prices

Speaker1: A higher beef production forecast, per USDA's February meat outlook. As World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair Mark Jekanowski explains: Speaker2: For 2026, we raised our beef production forecast by £190 million. This is based off of the Mass cattle report that was released January 30th. Speaker1: And while the headline from that report was a tightening of cattle supplies. Speaker2: Hidden within that data, it also showed higher supplies of cattle outside feedlots ready for placement. Speaker1: With projected higher cattle placements in feedlots in the first half of this year. Speaker2: Those cattle will become beef in the second half of 2026. That's the reasoning behind our higher beef production forecast this month. Speaker1: Steer prices remain high with a $4.50 per hundredweight month over month increase. The 2026 price forecast, now at $240.25 per hundredweight an almost $16 increase from the prior year. Speaker2: For 2026, steer prices reflecting those tight supplies. Steer prices remain very high and continue to strengthen. So we raised our steer price forecast by $4.50 per hundredweight. It's now at $240.25 per hundredweight. That would be up just about $16 per hundredweight year over year, $15.88, to be exact.