TOP STORIES

Cargill Pushes Further into Plant-Based Foods -- Market Talk

10:25 ET - Cargill, one of the world's largest meat producers, is upping its bet on plant-based meat alternatives and other vegetarian-friendly foods. The agricultural conglomerate enters a joint venture with Puris, a developer of pea-based protein ingredients used to make meat alternatives, snack bars and vegan spreads. Cargill's backing will help Puris open a second manufacturing plant, the companies say, and it follows Cargill's investment last year in cell-cultured meat startup Memphis Meats. The investments are part of Cargill's effort to capture growth in alternatives to conventional meat, which are expanding as advancing technologies make it easier to replicate the taste and texture of cattle, hog and chicken flesh. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

Chipotle Price Hikes Could Hurt Traffic -- Market Talk

10:05 ET - Chipotle this week raised menu prices by 5%-7% in markets where it didn't raise prices last year, bringing the total percentage of restaurants with higher prices now to about 75%. Some analysts say the price hikes will help protect the chain's margins as it faces higher labor and commodity costs. But they also warn that it could turn off customers who can easily find deals elsewhere. The price increases come at a tricky time for a company that is trying to recover lost sales. Baird notes that the higher prices "could lead to some consumer pushback at a stage when the company is attempting to rebuild traffic volumes." (julie.jargon@wsj.com)

STORIES OF INTEREST

Boparan Bond Spreads Back to Pre-Chicken Plant Investigation Levels -- Market Talk

1521 GMT - Spreads on Boparan's 5.5% 2021 sterling bonds are back below levels last seen before a Guardian/ITV investigation on conditions at one of the company's chicken plants broke out last September. Wednesday's tightening is courtesy of the announcement of pizza asset sales. Bid spreads on the bond tighten around 90 basis points to 567.7 bps. They stood at 577.9 bps right before the investigation was made public and briefly surpassed 1,000 bps in mid-November, according to Tradeweb data. (tasos.vossos@wsj.com; @tasosvos)

FUTURES MARKETS

Cattle Futures Rally on Steadying Cash Trade

Cattle futures leaped just short of a two-week high as physical-cattle prices showed signs of stabilizing.

Cash prices for slaughter-ready cattle have trended lower in 2018. But meatpackers at a closely watched online auction Wednesday morning paid steady money from a week earlier, suggesting to some traders that prices were bottoming.

Packers at the Fed Cattle Exchange auction bought a little over 100 head of cattle from Texas, around a third of what was listed for sale, at $119.75 per 100 pounds. Cash sales over the course of last week averaged $119.94 on a live basis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

CME February lean hog contracts slid 1.6% to 72.725 cents a pound, falling from Tuesday's multimonth highs.

CASH MARKETS

 
Zumbrota, Minn Hog $1.00 Higher $44.00 - Jan 17

Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today are $1.00 higher at $44.00 per hundredweight.

Sow prices are $3.00-$6.00 higher. Sows weighing 400-450 pounds are at $37.00, 450-500 pounds are $37.00 and those over 500 pounds are $39.00-$41.00.

The day's total run is estimated at 200 head.

Prices are provided by the Central Livestock Association.

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jan 17 
 
All figures are on a per-head basis. 
 
Date     Standard Margin       Estimated margin 
         Operating Index         at vertically - 
                             integrated operations 
                                      * 
Jan 17       +$16.04              +$41.23 
Jan 16       +$14.99              +$40.93 
Jan 15       +$15.50              +$41.83 
 
* 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  107.1 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select  106.6 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Wednesday fell 28 cents per hundred pounds, to $205.30, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices fell 28 cents per hundred pounds, to $199.61. The total load count was 126. Wholesale pork prices rose 14 cents, to $79.58 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 17, 2018 17:43 ET (22:43 GMT)

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