Trading was very quiet to start the week. There are reports that demand in the Gulf is going to start back up sooner than expectd, but Tropical Storm Nicholas may lay waste to those reports with heavy rains expected across Texas and Louisiana through the first half of the week. A fire at the JBS plant in Grand Island, NE is limiting trade as well. Sellers are waiting for a full assessment of damage before showing any firm offers to the market for tallow.

For the week ending September 18^th, 2021, cattle slaughter is forecast at 655,000 head, a one percent decline from 2020, a 0.89 percent drop from 2019, but a 13.5 percent growth from the previous week due to the Labor Day holiday. The potential for figures below this is highly probable due to the fire at the JBS Grand Island, NE facility which has processing capacity of up to 6,000 head per day. Another plant was down Monday due to computer related issues. According to the USDA Actual Slaughter Under Federal…