It was another day of record high prices with bleachable fancy tallow (BFT) crossing the 60 cents per pound threshold for the first time in history. Production interruptions last week, high heat affecting quality levels and further tightening supply and continued, strong demand have contributed to the higher prices. Despite the record highs, BFT remains well below the historical relative price to soybean oil. At 60 for Chicago packer BFT, the relative price today is 85.3 percent. The average for 2017 – 2019 for June is 100 percent, the prior ten-year average is 96 percent.

Drought conditions in big swaths of the US corn belt add additional risk for higher prices to the fat…