Market Trends with Tracy

Hosted by Saval Foodservice

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Aug 2026

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In foodservice, making smart menu decisions can be the difference between open, and closed. Follow along each week as we try to make sense of the many links in our food service supply chain, and how that affects the food you serve. Saval Foodservice's own veteran purchaser, Tracy Anderson, takes you through the major market updates. Saval Foodservice is a broadline foodservice distributor located in Elkridge, Maryland, and has been a family-owned & operated business since 1932. We serve the area's independent restaurants, caterers, delis, hotels, and other eateries. Our products range from fresh produce, seafood, custom-cut meat, groceries, beverages, our own line of Saval Deli delicatessen products, and cleaning supplies. We created this podcast in 2020 to keep our customers informed of the suddenly volatile market. Market Trends with Tracy is written & recorded by Tracy Anderson. Produced & Edited by Deanna Segreti and Shelby Reister. For questions or inquiries about the show, email sfssocialmedia@savalfoods.com Follow us on Instagram @savalfoods or on TikTok @savalfoodservice

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August 14, 20263 min

The Block is Hot

BEEF: Last week’s harvest was 59K head. I thought the prior week of 512K was low, so let's take another step down, with packers keeping pressure on availability with less product available. This puts our year-to-date output down 8.1%. A pretty sizeable decline. They seem to be pretty effective, as pricing is moving higher next week; I think we’ll continue on this ramp-up right into Labor Day. After that, I do think we’ll see a reset on many items. Right now, ribeyes and tenderloins are leading the market higher. Chucks and rounds are up a bit; briskets have found support moving higher. We do see some declines in flanks and sirloin flap… and ground beef is down again. I’d continue to stay ahead of your needs, but not too far out; better pricing is coming in September. POULTRY: Chicken is moving back up. Up for next week: boneless skinless breasts and party wings. Tenders, however, have another week moving lower. Production continues strong, though I do hear we could see some lower production numbers in the last quarter. But right now, chicken is moving out, and there is strong demand. On the avian flu, one new case affecting 75K turkeys. It was a good three-week run. GRAINS: Black Sea violence is keeping wheat prices moving higher, with two Russian grain terminals hit. Corn is moving up a bit, with the close today at $4.69/bushel, up from last week's $4.51. Soy is trending about the same as last week. I was hoping we’d see continued declines, but it looks like we are at the bottom of this market, at least for now. Grains will continue to be a strength for our domestic market. PORK: Pork bellies should be about topped out here, with today’s close of $166 up from last week's $164. The next move should be lower; it's just how quickly this decline will go. The rest of the pork complex is moving a few pennies down on butts, loins, and ribs. DAIRY Another split on the dairy markets, today’s CME close had the barrel down 1, but block ticks up 6. Butter declines 2. I don't see much that should be pushing this market higher, so we’ll see where this goes. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

August 7, 20263 min

Hopeful Beef Outlook

BEEF: I’m going to start with the weekly beef harvest. Last week’s total was 512K head; the prior week was 528K head. I don’t recall this small a weekly harvest on a non-holiday week. Packers will continue to try and tighten availability to support pricing. They are having some success as Ribeyes and tenderloins are moving higher heading to Labor Day. Overall, though prices are moving lower, we should see some appreciation as we get closer to Labor Day. Grinds and rounds are moving lower; thin meats are mixed as briskets have new support while flanks and sirloin flap continue to decline. I think we’ve got a week, maybe two, before we see this market move higher again. Stay ahead of your needs; product will be tight, but better values will be available. POULTRY: Chicken market is back to moving a bit higher. Up with Boneless skinless random breast and wings. Tenders still showing some weakness, moving a few pennies lower. This year’s robust chicken production growth is expected to cool off heading into fall, so this market could turn higher, but I’m not seeing anything yet. On the avian flu report, another week, no new cases, and we will take that win every time. GRAINS: Grains continue to decline from the surge we saw two weeks ago. Corn closed at $4.51, down from last week’s $4.69; soy at $11.53, down from last week's $11.71, and wheat closed at $6.07, down from last week’s $6.30. We are in the height of the growing season for corn and soy, and we do have some drought in parts of the country to deal with, but that is mostly west of the prime growing areas. Still looks like another big crop year. PORK: Pork bellies, they moved higher again this week, today’s close $164 up from last week’s $159. I do think we are about at the top of this market, just looking to see when we’ll start moving lower. Right now, I’d buy just what I need. Pork loins are up a nickel, ribs and butts holding steady. Once we get past Labor Day, I do expect some declines. DAIRY: Thursday’s CME close saw both barrel and block decline 2 while butter recovers from the recent declines up 6. We have plenty of raw material for dairy, so I don’t expect too much from this recent run. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

July 31, 20263 min

Good News in Beef

BEEF Let’s start with some really good news. For the first time since 2018 the US cattle herd increased by 200K head to 94.2 million head, this however is not the start of beef herd building we’ve been looking for. The increases are in dairy cows, the beef herd actually declined 200K head to 28.5 million head. I do see some signs of heifer retention with ranchers reserving additional head for breeding. I’m still taking this as a good sign. Additional good news: Our southern border will open to Mexican livestock with one port opening August 24 in Arizona. This entry will probably only be about 3,000 head per week, but we will take the progress. We’ve gone a week with no new New World screw worm cases, so let's keep the momentum going. Onto the current beef market and we continue to move lower finishing July, and I’d expect the early part of August will continue the decline. There is an exception as ribeyes and tenderloins seem to have done their summer declines; while the rest of the market softens, they have some demand behind them to keep from further declines. Declines from last week continue though they are getting smaller, and I do think we’ll see a bottom to this current market in the next couple weeks. Thin meats, rounds and chucks all moving lower, even grinds, which I almost thought invincible to market declines, are moving lower. I’d still stay ahead of your needs but as this market declines there will be opportunities. POULTRY Chicken market is down for next week. Boneless skinless randoms, tenders and even wings are all moving lower. This strong production we’ve seen all year seems to finally be catching up the producers lowering prices to keep things moving. I thought we’d see a minor increase but we’re going the other way. Makes chicken a great value this summer. On the avian flu beat – two weeks, no new cases. We’ll take that all day long. GRAINS Last week had all the grain markets moving higher, even corn. Well, that was last week. This week, except for wheat being affected by international unrest and domestic crop stress, corn and soy are moving back down. This week’s corn closed at $4.69 down from last week $4.84. Soy closed $11.71 down from $12.26 last week. Soy oil should move lower over the next couple weeks. PORK Pork bellies are up again this week, closing today at $159 over last week’s close of $156. While I do think we have a couple more weeks to go, I think we’ve got a week or two more before declining again heading into fall. Right now, it's all moving higher. Bellies are about the only thing pushing higher and pork, butts, ribs and loins, steady to down slightly. DAIRY The recent run up on the CME for the block and the barrel seems to have run out of steam. Through Thursday's close block is down 8, barrel is down 5 and butter continues lower down 11. Plenty of raw material available and we’re seeing a slowdown heading into August. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

July 24, 20262 min

Chicken is the New Beef

BEEF The beef market is continuing lower this week though I do see some slowing in the declines. Production continues restrained with 525K harvested last week, down from 529k the week prior. We may see even lower production numbers this week and moving into August to try and bolster some of price drops. Middle meats continue to lead the way lower, mainly the strip loin; tenders and ribeyes both lower but not by much. Grinds moved lower a second week, that I am surprised to see. Chucks and rounds are mostly trading sideways with some lower prices but mostly just treading water. Thin meats have more to go but finally are moving lower which was really needed. Overall, the market is soft even with tight inventories. Buy to stay ahead of your needs but no need to stretch too far out. POULTRY I’ve been talking all year how chicken production is up, and they don’t seem to be holding back, expecting to replace beef on the consumer's table. While demand for wings is pushing pricing up again next week, boneless skinless randoms and tenders are holding steady again for next week. While I do think the next move should be higher, I don’t think it will be more than a few cents up right now. On the avian flu beat, first time in weeks, no new cases reported. GRAINS International unrest and spikes in oil prices come right into our food sector pushing all our grains higher, even corn. Corn closed at $4.84/bushel up from last week $4.67, soybeans up closing at $12.26 over last week’s $11.95 and wheat closed at $6.83 up from $6.69. We have the inventory to meet demand; pricing will be pushing higher every day. PORK Pork bellies closed today at $156 up from last week $147. I don’t think this is done at all. Expect to peak sometime in August. Butts, loins, and ribs all moving slightly lower making pork a very attractive protein buy. DAIRY At the close of today’s CME, block is up 5, barrel is up 3 and butter heads lower another week, down 5. Not sure how long this run up will continue but I don’t expect too much longer. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

July 17, 20262 min

The Pork Belly Race is On

BEEF The beef market continues its summer pull back. Overall market tone is moving lower. I expect we will see this through the end of the month; come August we’ll be starting to look at fall demand. Unbelievable, already talking about fall. Last week’s harvest was 529K head, up from the holiday week of 448K. Middle meats are leading prices lower, especially ribeyes and strips, tenderloins are down but not near the movement lower on ribeyes and strips. Grinds are holding steady for a week, but still this is a product with strong demand and pricing will be moving higher. End cuts, rounds and chucks are moving nominally lower; demand isn’t strong this time of year, but restricted production keeps pricing propped up a bit. I’d stay ahead of my needs, but overall pricing is moving lower. POULTRY The overall feel of the chicken market is demand is stronger than supply. Wings are getting a strong push up next week. Randoms and tenders holding steady, but I do expect their next move will be higher. On the avian flu front, another 275K egg layers removed from the food supply. GRAINS Soy oil is holding onto all the gains from last week when the market started moving higher. Corn closed up at $4.67 over last week’s $4.48. Wheat moving higher as well. Most of this is reaction to international disruptions, still not ready to say everything is breaking higher but I’m watching. PORK The pork belly run higher is on, today’s close $147 up from last week’s $132. I expect this late start to the summer belly increase will run well into August. Butts, ribs, and loins are all staying about where they are, keeping pork a good protein value. DAIRY The CME continued last week's move higher on cheese. Through Thursday’s close block is up 8, barrel is up 4, and butter is down 2. Summer is not usually the time of year we see cheese markets surge higher; we’ll see if this continues. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

July 10, 20263 min

Soy in Action

BEEF As expected, beef pricing for middle meats is moving lower. Strips, ribeyes and tenderloins all coming off a bit from pre-holiday highs. I expect we will see this continue right to the end of the month. Grinds on the other hand are keeping prices high and will be moving higher. Ground beef is still the value in the beef complex even with advancing prices. Chucks and rounds will be coming off a bit, but don’t expect too much from these primals as far as discounting. Beef production during the holiday shortened week was 458K head down from the prior week’s 537K head and down compared to last year’s holiday when the harvest was 474, keeping beef tight and expensive. Thin meats are a mixed bag; declines in briskets and sirloin flap while flank still has support pushing higher. With inventories tight, I’d recommend staying ahead of your needs, but you will see better pricing over the next few weeks. POULTRY We’ll start talking about poultry with avian flu. Our good run has come to an end. Only one case reported, but it is 1.2 million egg layers in Utah removed from the food supply. Talking about current chicken market, wings are on fire moving up strongly for next week. Randoms and tenders are holding steady at least for next week. Production continues strong but demand is pushing this market. I don’t expect chicken to take a big run up we should see a pretty steady market through the summer. GRAINS China is back to purchasing soybeans after the protracted tariff disruption, booking 132K metric tons with commitment to purchase 25M metric tons through 2028. Shooting started again with Iran; both those events turned a promising decline in soy oil right around with prices inching higher every day. Corn closed up at $4.48/bushel over last week’s $4.31 close. Wheat is up across the board too. Though we have so much corn we’ll not see much effect from this latest move higher, wheat could push flour pricing up. Right now, the action is in soy. PORK Pork bellies finally showing some direction closing at $132 up from last week's $119. We’ll keep watching to see if this is an event or a trend, I’m betting trend, but I’ve been fooled a couple times this year, so let's see it play out. If this is the expected belly summer climb, now it when to buy bacon. Butts and ribs holding steady and a good value, loins actually moving a few cents lower makes a great value in protein. DAIRY The CME closed today with the block up 8, the barrel up 4 and butter moving down 2. This is the most active we’ve seen this trade in quite a while. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

July 3, 20263 min

The Summer of the Pork Belly

BEEF Beef production last week was 537K head, up from 526K the week prior. We are still in that zone of keeping supplies tight to keep pricing up. The animals that are processed have been in the feed lots longer, growing larger; current cattle are running almost 50 pounds heavier than this week last year. This trend will continue. We are at the big summer holiday. I do expect beef prices to settle once we get past Independence Day and a short production week. I do expect grinds to lead the beef complex this summer; demand will be strong and pricing will be supported by that demand. Another week and let's see if the middle meats will behave like they should in summer and move a bit lower. Thin meats, briskets, sirloin flap, skirts will be the wild card as it takes a lot of animals to fill one case; tight supplies just keep pressure on the pricing, but we could see some reset on thin meats if demand does not hold. All in all, stay ahead of your needs, but I wouldn’t go too far out as I do think we’ll see more favorable prices in the next few weeks. POULTRY Chicken production continues to outpace last year, but I do think we’ll see a bit of a slowdown in production, not a pullback, but we’ve been running about 2% ahead of last year and I’m seeing some pullback to about 1% over last year. Enough to get some push under the market to keep prices supported. Wings are seeing good support and moving higher next week. Boneless skinless randoms up again next week, while tenders are lower again. A few weeks ago, tenders were well over the cost of random breasts; next week that flips as tenders decline and random breasts increase. Still, plenty of chicken and favorable pricing. GRAINS Corn continues in its narrow trading ban closing at $4.31 up from last week $4.19. We are finally seeing breaks in soy oil pricing; lower prices should be arriving in the next couple weeks to break this recent run up. Wheat is a mixed bag but mostly lower. PORK The great summer of the pork belly continues, closing today at $119. Up $3 from last week but still great pricing for this time of year. Butts, ribs and loins are all down a bit again as pork is ready to replace beef demand, but consumers have made the choice for chicken. Still pork is there and an excellent protein value. DAIRY Barrel and block both took the holiday off both moving less than ½ cent for the week, while butter took to moving higher, up 13 for the week. Markets will be closed on Friday, July 3. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

June 26, 20263 min

The Dog Days of Summer

BEEF We hit Independence Day next weekend and the start of the “dog days of summer." Once we get clear of the holiday I do expect we will see a market reset, especially on middle meats. I’m not looking for a crash, but I do expect we will see a steady decline over the month of July possibly right into August. There is some data to suggest ground beef is hitting a bit of a ceiling for customer acceptance. I do think we will push past that resistance, but it will be slowly inching higher; if consumer push back is strong enough, we could see grinds settle out where they are. We’ll keep watching but in my opinion we will see moderate increases continue into August. With production last week only 526K head just up from 524K the week prior, inventories will continue to be tight. Stay ahead of your needs. Looking at New World Screw worm, eight new cases, one sheep, one goat, and six head of cattle. Expect the southern border to remain closed to live animal imports through the rest of this year, and most likely well into 2027. POULTRY Chicken production continues strong, they are not letting up. Demand for boneless skinless random breasts and party wings are moving prices higher next week. Tenders which were out of line with randoms just a few weeks ago have declined to be comparable in costs. Good to keep pushing out that chicken. On the Avian Flu beat, one new case affecting 3K birds. GRAINS Overall grains are moving lower especially soy oil. Finally breaking lower from the recent highs. I don’t think we will return to the low markets of early this year, but pricing is coming off. Wheat closed at $4.19 down from last week’s $4.30. Wheat closed at $5.84 down from last week’s $6.11. I do expect to see lower grain costs continue as long as we don’t have a major disruption. PORK Pricing on pork bellies declined again this week, closing today at $116 down from last week’s $118. This is not an expecting market level for early summer. I’ll keep buying bacon at this level, and you should too. Butts are coming off again next week and loins moved up a few pennies but still offer a great value in protein. DAIRY And a split decision on dairy markets this week, through Thursday’s close, barrel is up 3, while block is down 4 and butter continues lower down 6 for the week. Dairy markets are at good levels for buying now. We’ll keep watching. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

June 12, 20263 min

The Need for Beef

BEEF We’ll start again with the New World screwworm. We now have 6 confirmed cases in Texas and 1 in New Mexico. Affected animals are a dog, a goat and 5 cattle. While our border with Mexico has been closed for months now to live animals, Texas cattle is now barred from export to Canada and I’d expect that list to continue to grow. This is a growing issue that will affect our beef industry for the foreseeable future. Beef production was 533K head last week, up from the holiday shortened prior week of 448K. This keeps inventories tight and product prices pushing higher. Middle meats, those ribeyes, tenderloins, and strips are finding support to continue moving higher. Chucks and rounds are holding steady for now though they are not big demand items in the summer. Ground beef is the big demand item and it's moving higher every day. Briskets and sirloin flap are moving lower, but I don’t think we’ll see this for long. It’s a market where I’d make sure I stay ahead of my needs and keep inventory on hand. This market is moving higher. POULTRY The declining chicken market is done. Pricing will be moving higher next week on boneless skinless random breasts, tenders and party wings. Compared to other proteins, still a great value but the declines of the last month are done. Chicken production continues strong up about 2% over last year. There is plenty of chicken in production. On the avian flu report, only three new cases affecting 20K birds. The summer is looking good for avian flu. GRAINS Corn continues to be a great value closing at $4.25/bushel today, that’s down from $4.39 last week. Soy has pulled back a bit from the highs we saw last week, but I would not be surprised if they go on another run. High fuel prices put soy in play with biofuels, that is not over. Wheat is moving lower; I do think we’ll see lower flour costs soon. PORK Pork bellies holding steady for the week, closing today at $120, about the same as last week. This will be moving higher soon, but it is a great price right now. Butts were on a tear higher, but they seem to have leveled off, we may see some better pricing shortly. Ribs are about as high as expected to see them this year. Loins continue to be the value in pork. DAIRY CME Limited moves on the CME this week, thru Thursday’s close, butter is down 2, block is up 1, and barrel is up 2. Let's look for a quiet market at least the next couple weeks. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

June 5, 20263 min

Pressure on the Herd

BEEF Let's start with the bad news. We’ve been expecting this to happen for several months, yesterday the USDA announced the discovery of the New World Screw Worm infecting a calf in La Pryor, Texas, about 50 miles north of the border. This will keep the border closed to live animals for the foreseeable future, keeping pressure on the already small domestic beef herd. The New World Screw worm is a flesh-eating parasite that has been eradicated from the US since the 1970s, but it's back! Control measures include releasing sterile male flies to reduce population growth. This is certainly worth keeping informed about. Now, with that bit of cheery news, let's look at current beef markets. Last week was a holiday week so harvest was only 448K head. Demand remains good, not great. I’m expecting to see market moves higher as we head to Independence Day. Grinds continue to increase every day. Middle meats were struggling to move higher the last couple weeks, but they are back on track with steady moves higher, again I think right into Independence Day. Thin meats, brisket, flanks, sirloin flap, are mostly steady to lower. This continues to be a market with tight supply, make sure to stay ahead of your needs. POULTRY The decline in boneless skinless breast meat continues next week. The heavy production we’ve seen so far this year is finally catching up a bit on the suppliers. They are discounting breast meat to keep it moving. Tenders are holding steady another week while wings finally bottomed out last week and are moving up, just a bit, but they are moving up again. The avian flu reports over the last week, 7 new cases affecting 107K birds, mostly ducks. GRAINS Soy was up like a rocket all week, until today. There will be increases in soy oil in the short term, hopefully we can see this turn back down. Wheat is giving back all its recent gains and we should see some lower prices on wheat. Corn closed at $4.39 today down from last week’s $4.62. New crop estimates will not be pushing this market higher anytime soon. PORK Pork bellies closed today at $120 up from last week’s $112. This is still great pricing for this time of year. I do expect bellies will be moving higher into the summer. One analyst estimated we could see $180 bellies which should be about the top end of this run. Butts continue to be in demand and pushing prices up. Ribs getting the same push higher. Loins are holding steady, don’t see anything to push them higher right now. DAIRY CME Thru Thursday’s close Butter is up 7, taking back all those recent declines. Both barrel and block are down 1. Production is good, I don’t see much to push cheese higher right now. Savalfoods.com | Find us on Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn

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