Casey, C. (2023, February 8). Tight supplies will lead to lower margins for meat producers in 2023: S&P report. FOODDIVE. Retrieved August 8, 2023, from https://www.fooddive.com/news/meat-supply-margins-2023-decrease-report/642046/
The meat industry is expected to face many challenges in 2023 and upcoming years. Due to high operating costs, droughts, supply chain disruptions, and tight livestock supply, meat producers such as JBS are expected to experience lower margins and reduced pricing control this year and going into 2024. Additionally, poultry producers like Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride will face pressure from high feed costs and limited cold storage, though margins may improve during the summer grilling season. The profitability of these companies is likely to decrease, however their expanded product portfolio may reduce the impact of an economic downturn. The meat industry may continue to face difficulties as droughts and bad weather strains margins, and shifting demand dynamics create more uncertainty.
This article focuses on the economic side of the meat industry, highlighting the continued economic struggles facing meat producers and processors. These companies are experiencing lower margins as well as shifting demand dynamics, possibly these shifting demand dynamics may come from consumers decreasing meat consumption due to increased knowledge regarding the harmful effects of the meat industry on the environment. The economic difficulties these companies are facing may result in less overall meat production, as resources are reallocated to create other goods or services with better product margins. This decrease in overall meat production would help the environment as meat production is mostly harmful to it. I was interested in this article mainly because it focuses on the economic side of meat production. It gave me insight on how the market is doing and I started to speculate how the environmental impacts of meat production may be affected by shifting market situations.
This is a well written abstract- nice and tight. The env. connection isn’t immediately apparent but you brought it out in a convincing way in the follow up paragraph. Do think Impossible or Beyond Beef have somehow taken away sales from the meat industry? With their profit margins so tight I have to wonder if the incentive to treat the animals and land better, presumably more expensive, is going to be less likely. As you said, less meat consumption is better for overall health of everything… except maybe the companies overall portfolio.
I don’t think Impossible or Beyond Beef have taken sales from the meat industry. This is because Impossible or Beyond Beef are products for people who are vegan or vegetarian and those people already do not eat meat, these products are substitutes for other greens. So, I don’t think Impossible or Beyond Beef have taken sales from the meat industry, rather they have taken sales from the greens industry.