Twenty of the largest slaughterhouses in the United States have ceased production. This greatly reduces the country's slaughtering capacity. The production of pork is currently restricted by 30%.
An unusually large number of pigs were slaughtered in the United States last year. This trend continued until January 2020. Now the slaughter abruptly drops. Last week, 364,600 pigs were slaughtered in the U.S., according to a USDA report. That was 22% less than in the same week last year. Such a decline is unprecedented. In the current week, the number drops to 318,000 pigs.
Even if the currently closed slaughterhouses should open again soon, they will no longer reach their full capacity because the Ministry of Labor has now imposed stricter safety and hygiene standards. That will slow down production.
Meat supply has decreased in many US grocery stores. The range of pigs ready for slaughter and other raw materials is also jammed on the farms. Slaughterhouses are the link between raw material suppliers and the food trade and are now proving to be a bottleneck.Meat prices in US grocery stores have already increased 5-7%.
This has painful consequences on the farms, because now piglets have to be aborted and other agricultural raw materials such as milk, eggs and vegetables also have to be destroyed.
Source
Hansa Terminhandel GmbH
