TOP STORIES

 

Fresh Beef Lifts McDonald's Burger Sales -- Market Talk

08:58 ET - McDonald's says its launch of fresh beef burgers last year has helped the fast-food giant gain share in burger sales in quick-service for the first time in five years. The rollout helped lift quarter-pound burger sales by an average of 30% the first year and the company sold 40 million more quarter-pound burgers in 1Q 2019 than in 1Q 2018, the chain says. Fresh beef was one of the biggest changes to the chain's menu in years. (heather.haddon@wsj.com; @heatherhaddon)

 

Land O'Lakes Part of Animal Feed JV in China -- Market Talk

11:19 ET - Land O'Lakes is joining Royal Agrifirm in setting up a dairy-animal feed joint venture in China. The JV will provide research and technical capabilities to China-based feed customers and dairy farmers. The venture will initially be based in Agrifirm's existing manufacturing plant in Tianjin, with plans to build a dairy premix and specialty plant on the adjacent property, and is pending antitrust and regulatory approvals. (chris.wack@wsj.com)

 

STORIES OF INTEREST

 

China's Ag Imports From US Have Plunged in 2019 -- Market Talk

0835 GMT - The US-China trade tensions and dueling tariffs have helped result in Chinese imports of US agricultural products sinking 55% in January-May from a year earlier to CNY32.7 billion ($4.8 billion), according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Meanwhile, imports from Brazil have jumped 21% to CNY76.2 billion. But US soybean imports soared in May, cutting the year-to-date drop to 12%. It was 71% through April. (liyan.qi@wsj.com)

 

FUTURES MARKETS

 

Hog Futures Finish at Lowest Level Since Early March -- Market Talk

15:10 ET - The August lean-hog contract finishes the day down 4.7%, at 74.225 cents a pound. This is the lowest that the contract has been since March 6, nearly four months ago. The combination of a bearish cold storage report from the USDA and a piling-on effect from investment funds selling their positions brought the price down today. August live cattle futures, meanwhile, finish the day 0.2% higher. This is despite movement in the corn contract, which gains 1% on the CBOT. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

 

CASH MARKETS

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jun 24 
 
Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations 
All figures are on a per-head basis. 
 
Date     Standard Margin       Estimated margin 
         Operating Index         at vertically - 
                             integrated operations 
 
Jun 24       -$  3.83            +$ 33.34 
Jun 21       -$  6.75            +$ 31.15 
Jun 20       -$  5.42            +$ 33.96 
 
* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production. 
A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of 
production of the animals. 
 
Beef-O-Meter 
This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite 
values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices. 
 
                                 Beef 
          For Today             Choice  101.2 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select   98.9 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Monday fell 8 cents per hundred pounds, to $219.74, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 26 cents per hundred pounds, to $199.81. The total load count was 120. Wholesale pork prices rose $1.02, to $75.91 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 24, 2019 17:06 ET (21:06 GMT)

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