CHICAGO – U.S. meat producers are earning some of the highest profit margins in more than a decade, a bright spot for investors in agriculture, where grain farmers and trading companies are struggling to make money after years of massive oversupply.
Profits have soared and share prices are close to record highs for chicken processors such as Sanderson Farms and Pilgrim's Pride. With another bumper grain harvest expected this year, prices for feed should stay low. That, combined with robust demand for protein, could keep profits strong well into 2018.
Cheap grains are also boosting profits for companies that fatten up cattle before slaughter and even for the big meat processors, such as Cargill, which buy the animals but not the grain to feed them.
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