Inflation/stagflation Thread

It really is a FED thing, that transcends administrations. Biden certainly hasnt helped, but he’s merely the most recent in a long line of contributors.

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Let me guess. It was only mishandled in 2020. And only mishandled in one country. And only mishandled at the federal level. And therefore only mishandled by one person.

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No, that’s absurd. It was mishandled by most countries. It was mishandled at several states and local levels as well.
However, going into the pandemic (up to ~2016 and even into 2020), the US was best equipped to handle it. And we were also afforded great luck in being one of the later places to have to address the situation, primarily based on geographical location and where the first outbreak occurred. We should have made it through the best out of all other countries. American Exceptionalism.

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Tyson Foods trumpeting additional price hikes

Tyson Foods Inc. is planning further price increases to offset soaring costs.

The Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson, the biggest U.S. meat company by sales, said chicken prices rose 19% during its fiscal fourth quarter while beef and pork prices jumped 33% and 38%, respectively.

We expect to take continued pricing actions to ensure that any inflationary cost increases that our business incurs are passed along,” said Tyson Foods CFO Stewart Glendinning on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “Our pricing has lagged inflation, but we expect to recover those cost increases during fiscal '22.”

Management is planning pricing initiatives for its prepared food business and in its beef and pork segments.

Headwinds from higher prices are expected to persist into next year

Read the entire piece here:

Linky

This story is also being covered in the Wall Street Journal:

Tyson Foods Raises Meat Prices as Costs Escalate

Meat giant says it increased its average beef prices by one-third in its most recent quarter

Link to WSJ coverage

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And show me one beef rancher (not conglomerate owned) who is receiving 10% higher prices.

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So happy to see the Honkinggoose has returned. :blush:

My closest gasoline station is showing $5.06. Can anyone top this? I’m Not ready for a refill yet.

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Tyson may be able to exert some pricing authority over their prepared food products, since those are generally long-shelf-life frozen products, and since those presumably have an explicit MSRP they can attach to them to encourage retailer pricing.

But surely the bulk of every meet producer’s business is raw meat – and that stuff prices to the local market, daily, in every grocery store in the country to clear out product that was either over-ordered or over-priced.

The producer doesn’t get to unilaterally decide to price raw chicken higher, unless they stop slaughtering chickens and dry up supply. (but they also aren’t the only game in town, and I don’t recall ever reading an accusation that Perdue and Tyson were a cartel)

huh?

Point was, raw meat, is a commodity with a limited shelf life that has to sell at market, and has some amount of throughput that they can’t just stop without significant waste.

There isn’t some 1:1 relationship with whatever their production costs may be, and the price they’re able to get in the market for raw meat.

That part wasn’t a direct reply to the original post – which was about their processed food division (which is less of a direct commodity, with a longer shelf life, where they can better adjust supply) – but I’ve seen a bunch of ridiculous posts elsewhere lately about people claiming that prices were going up by x% on y-date, and it just doesn’t work like that.

You think the prices charged by the largest meat company in the country, the 2nd largest in the world, aren’t a huge factor in the market price of raw meat?

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I’m saying it’s essentially a commodity, and it has a fairly short finite shelf life.

If they had the direct pricing power to demand 20% more for their chicken and maintain sales, they would have already been asking for it.

They have the power to demand 20% more when they know that their competitors are facing the same inflationary pressures they are and also need to raise prices 20% to maintain a healthy margin. I still don’t see the point of your post claiming they don’t get to raise prices during times of inflation.

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For too many Americans at the lower end, outlook for Thanksgiving and Christmas is bleak

In the grip of this inflation, they simply cannot make it:

From Bloomberg | Quint:

Inflation-set-to-spoil-holidays-for-struggling-u-s-families

This year not everyone is gonna be able to afford a turkey. :cry:

Makes you sad.

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They predicted that Powell would be on his way out due to standing in the way of the U.S. fully entering modern monetary theory and that if he was to be re-nominated, that it may not make it past the Senate.

I agree. Replacing Powell would be very bad news on the inflation front

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I think his point is that even if you and all the other chicken producers hike your prices by 20%, that may cause enough of a fall in demand that you might not be able to sell all the chicken you already have for sale before it spoils. In that case, you might sell it somewhat higher, but not the full amount higher, just to be sure to sell it all (even if it doesn’t cover your higher costs). And at the same time you start feeling out the market demand at +20% and possibly start dialing back orders to your suppliers to reflect the expected demand at the new price point so you don’t make more than you can sell.

And speaking of chickens,

image

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I’ve been primarily directing our charitable donations at the local food banks. They really need it right now given the effect inflation is having, and especially this time of year when they try to acquire things like turkeys, hams, etc for folks during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I would encourage others to do the same. They can buy in bulk and prevent people from going without during the holidays.

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You can say this every year.

Also, nobody actually likes turkey. Maybe that’s why chicken prices are going up :smile:.

I like turkey neck. Good tasting and good texture. Lots of meat. Besides, it grosses most people out so I always am able to get it. Aside from that, I agree with you. Chicken is superior. But chicken neck is scrawny and all bone. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Hmmmm.

Cries of "let them eat chicken" have arisen from the crowd.

I have an entirely different approach and focus:

I want to put turkey into the mouths of American citizens who want it and for whom this inflation has made our traditional holidays more challenging to celebrate and . . .

I want far less of our limited resources to go for support of persons who are NOT American citizens and who break our laws just being here.

Charity begins at home . . not in Central America. Turkeys FIRST for American citizens who want them, not for illegal aliens.

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Don’t twist my words.

I finally got my family to acknowledge what we have always known and rarely said out loud – nobody actually wants to eat turkey! So we’re going without this year. I say let someone else eat our turkey if that’s their thing.

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