Trading was quiet mid-week with few changes reported.

For week ending November 18, 2023, broiler slaughter is forecast to be 170.412 million head, 2.1 percent below 2022 but 1.4 percent over the previous week (Fig 1). Over the next six weeks, broiler slaughter is projected to average 161.082 million head per week, a drop of 1.1 from 2022 but a 5.7 percent rise compared to 2021. Reductions in slaughter out front are due to not only the Thanksgiving holiday but Christmas as well.

Based on the Weekly Livestock, Poultry, and Grain market highlights from the USDA, year-to-date broiler production as of November 13 was at 35.591 billion head, a 0.2 percent drop from 2022 for the comparable time. Year-to-date turkey production was at 4.321 billion head, a 4.3 percent increase from 2022 for the similar time period.

Fig. 1

…