TOP STORIES

 

China Moves to Stabilize Pork Prices

BEIJING--China has rolled out a slew of measures to ensure sufficient pork supply and stabilize pork prices, as China's consumer inflation rose to a 17-month high last month, partly helped by surging pork prices.

The Chinese cabinet said it is working on restoring pig farming by speeding up granting subsidies to help contain African pig swine fever and strengthening support for pig farmers to expand their business, state media CCTV reported, citing a regular state-council meeting. The authority also vowed to lower logistics costs for transporting pork products and to ensure sufficient pork supply to satisfy people's basic needs.

 

STORIES OF INTEREST

 

Simply Good Foods to Buy Protein-Food Producer for $1 Billion

Simply Good Foods Co., the maker of Atkins-branded food products, is buying a privately held food company for $1 billion.

The companies said Wednesday that Simply Good will acquire Quest Nutrition LLC in an all-cash $1 billion deal that is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

 

FUTURES MARKETS

 

Cattle Close Higher, Hogs Inch Lower -- Market Talk

17:08 ET - Cattle futures on the CME closed at $1.00225 a pound, while lean hogs closed down to 63.3 cents a pound. Despite recent woes with the fire at the Tyson Foods plant in Kansas, domestic demand is still good, says Jeff French of Top Third Ag Marketing. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com)

 

CASH MARKETS

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Aug 21 
 
 This report reflects U.S. pork packer processing margins. The margin indices 
are calculated using current cash hog or carcass values and wholesale pork 
cutout values and may not reflect actual margins at the plants. These 
estimates reflect the general health of the industry and are not meant to 
be indicative of any particular company or plant. 
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 
 
Aug 21       +$ 20.66            +$ 41.55 
Aug 20       +$ 19.89            +$ 46.63 
Aug 19       +$ 20.40            +$ 49.21 
 
 
 
* 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  113.2 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select  105.7 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Wednesday rose 4 cents per hundred pounds, to $241.74, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose $1.43 per hundred pounds, to $215.70. The total load count was 105. Wholesale pork prices fell $2.36, to $79.73 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 21, 2019 20:20 ET (00:20 GMT)

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