More than 2.5 billion pounds of meat from beef to pork and poultry are being stockpiled in cold-storage warehouses across the country amid ongoing trade disputes with countries that import U.S. meat, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing federal data set to release as early as Monday.
The details: While domestic consumers' demand for meat has increased, it not enough to keep up with record production of hogs and chickens, forcing industry increasingly reply on exports, the report notes. This would drive-down prices for American consumers, restaurants and retailers. But dwindling foreign exports will threaten profits for meat manufacturers, and the report adds that some hog farmers have already started scaling back their operations.