LIVESTOCK HIGHLIGHTS: Top Stories of the Day
August 21 2019 - 08:35PM
Dow Jones News
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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