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COVID-19 Working Paper: COVID-19 and the U.S. Meat and Poultry Supply Chains

Author

Listed:
  • Vaiknoras, Kate
  • Hahn, William
  • Padilla, Samantha
  • Valcu-Lisman, Adriana
  • Grossen, Grace

Abstract

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted the U.S. meat industry in 2020 as social distancing and stay-at-home orders led to a decline in food-away-from-home (FAFH) purchases. In addition, worker illnesses at packing plants led to a slowdown in slaughtering and some plant shutdowns, particularly at pork and beef packing facilities, which caused problems for animal producers that had nowhere to send animals that were ready for slaughter. This paper uses data from a variety of sources to describe the changes to meat and poultry supply chains in 2020. At the beginning of 2020, cattle and hog slaughter rates were higher than in 2019, but they began to decline in April, reaching a low the week ending May 2, 2020, when slaughter for cattle and hogs was only 65 percent of that week’s 2019 slaughter. Slaughter rates rebounded by June, although a backlog of animals still needed to be processed. From mid-April to mid-June 2020, the fall in slaughter rates combined with an increase in retail demand drove a large margin between wholesale meat and livestock prices. Retail purchases of meat at grocery stores surged the week ending March 15, 2020, to 75 percent above that week’s 2019 meat sales. At the same time, food purchases at restaurants and other food-service establishments plummeted. High cold storage stocks of meat in early 2020 may have helped grocery retailers maintain high levels of sales during the supply disruptions in April and May 2020. Retail purchases remained higher for most remaining weeks of 2020 compared to 2019.

Suggested Citation

  • Vaiknoras, Kate & Hahn, William & Padilla, Samantha & Valcu-Lisman, Adriana & Grossen, Grace, "undated". "COVID-19 Working Paper: COVID-19 and the U.S. Meat and Poultry Supply Chains," USDA Miscellaneous 319353, United States Department of Agriculture.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:usdami:319353
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.319353
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    2. Gale, Fred & Kee, Jennifer & Huang, Joshua, 2023. "How China’s African Swine Fever Outbreaks Affected Global Pork Markets," Economic Research Report 338956, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    3. Hayes Dermot & Jacobs Keri & Schulz Lee & Crespi John, 2023. "Resilience of U.S. Cattle and Beef Sectors: Lessons from COVID-19," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 53-67, May.
    4. Padilla, Samantha & Schulz, Lee & Vaiknoras, Kate A. & MacLachlan, Matthew J., 2022. "The Resiliency of Pork Processing Plants during the COVID-19 Pandemic," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322448, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Cooper, Joseph & Breneman, Vincent & Ma, Meilin & Lusk, Jayson L. & Maples, Joshua G. & Arita, Shawn, 2023. "Econometric assessment of the effects of COVID-19 outbreaks on U.S. meat production and plant utilization with plant-level data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

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