Markets
A combination of packing plant closures,
mainly in cattle-deficit regions of the U.S., and
rising cattle inventories overall has brought
balance to the business today. (Source: USDA’s
National Agricultural Statistics Service)
Packing plants of all sizes have important roles
in the beef industry. Finding a role is all about
responding to beef customer and consumer
interests, and providing a constant supply of
consistent, high-quality beef at competitive prices.
The relatively small rise in market share
by the giant packers suggests the smaller
slaughter facilities, in aggregate, are
maintaining market share. (Source: USDA’s
National Agricultural Statistics Service)
In 2018, 72.7% of FI slaughter plants each
slaughtered between 1 and 999 head annually,
15.2% slaughtered between 1,000 and 9,999
head, and 10.1% slaughtered between 10,000 and
999,999. Plants that each slaughtered over 1 million
head only comprised 2% of the total number of
Packing capacity trends
The U.S. has fewer FI cattle slaughter plants
than it had 20 years ago. But the number has
held relatively stable in recent years. In 1999,
the U.S. had 759 FI cattle slaughter plants. Plant
numbers bottomed at 626 in 2007 and 627 in
2012, before settling up at 663 in 2018 (Figure 2).
U.S. FI cattle slaughter facilities. This compares to
73.0%, 14.4% and 10.7%, respectively, in 1999.
Packing capacity in line with supply
After a prolonged and painful period of
underutilization (overcapacity) in the mid-
2010s, the industry has emerged with national,
if not regional, packing plant capacity in much
better balance with available cattle supplies.
This balance has been accomplished by a
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