Trading was quiet to start the week. The risk for higher prices remains high, but buyers and sellers were on the sidelines to start the week. Negative direction in the grain and vegetable oil markets is giving buyers some optimism for lower prices, or at least a ceiling, but the nearby supply and demand fundamentals are suggestive of another level of correction to the upside for tallow and greases.

Hog slaughter finished last week at an estimated 2.85 million head, five percent over the same week in 2020. Slaughter is forecast to trend lower over the next six weeks, falling from a projected 2.7 million head this week to…