LIVESTOCK HIGHLIGHTS: Top Stories of the Day
June 03 2020 - 5:54PM
Dow Jones News
TOP STORIES
Chicken Industry Executives, Including Pilgrim's Pride CEO,
Indicted for Price Fixing
Four chicken industry executives were indicted Wednesday for
allegedly conspiring to fix prices on chickens sold to restaurants
and grocery stores, the Justice Department's first charges in a
continuing criminal antitrust probe.
The one-count indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in
Colorado, allege current and former senior executives at Pilgrim's
Pride Corp. and Claxton Poultry Farms fixed prices and rigged bids
from 2012 to 2017.
Campbell's Sales Rise on Coronavirus Buying
Campbell Soup Co. raised earnings expectations for its fiscal
year after demand skyrocketed for its soup and snacks during the
coronavirus pandemic.
Campbell said Wednesday that sales in its latest quarter jumped
17% on a comparable basis, including a 35% surge in U.S. soup sales
-- the strongest performance by that metric in decades. But demand
has exceeded Campbell's manufacturing capacity, causing it to lose
market share in heat-and-eat soups.
The company's shares fell 4% to $49.73.
Ahold Delhaize: Food Lion Buys 62 US Stores From Southeastern
Grocers
Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV said on Wednesday that its Food
Lion brand was buying 62 BI-LO and Harveys Supermarket stores from
Southeastern Grocers for an undisclosed amount.
The Netherlands-based owner of grocery chains such as Stop &
Shop and Giant Food said that the stores were located in North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and they will be converted
to Food Lion stores as part of the brand's continued expansion in
the southeast of the U.S.
STORIES OF INTEREST
Cargill Closes a Window Into a Food Giant's Performance --
Market Talk
1157 ET - Cargill's decision to halt quarterly financial
reporting and no longer disclose annual profits ends a practice
that stretched back to 1996, and gave farmers, restaurant chains,
packaged food makers and commodity-market speculators a window into
one of the world's biggest food companies. Cargill's one of the
biggest buyers of corn, soybeans, wheat and other crops, a top
animal-feed producer and major meatpacker, processing beef and
turkey in North America and chicken in Asia and Latin America. The
company says its move, which comes after skipping a scheduled
springtime earnings release due to the pandemic, frees up capital
and aligns with other privately held companies' practices.
(jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)
Guidance for Protecting Farmworkers Falls Short, Critics Say --
Market Talk
1702 ET - Labor unions and worker advocacy groups say guidance
issued by the Trump administration to protect farmworkers from
coronavirus pales in comparison to what's needed as outbreaks grow
on farms. OSHA and the CDC released recommendations for steps
agricultural employers should take to prevent the virus' spread,
including screening farmworkers for symptoms, encouraging the use
of face coverings and conducting more rigorous cleaning of shared
housing. But critics say the guidance -- which is voluntary --
falls short. "Guidance is a series of vague suggestions that
growers can ignore with impunity," said Erik Nicholson, national
vice president for United Farm Workers, a union. "The essential
women and men employed in agriculture need binding rules and
regulations that are clear... and enforceable."
(jesse.newman@wsj.com; @jessenewman13)
FUTURES MARKETS
Hog Slide Extends Into June -- Market Talk
15:17 ET - A slide in lean hog futures beginning in May appears
to have continued into June. Hog futures have shed over 11 cents
per pound, or 17.9%, since May 4. "This is coming from the
resumption of processing at packing plants in the US following
Covid-19 outbreaks," says Karl Setzer of AgriVisor. "Packers are
also facing a large backlog of hogs to process, and these are
coming in at higher weights due to longer feeding times." CME July
lean hogs futures closed trading Wednesday down 2.6% at 53.475
cents per pound. August live cattle futures finished 1.2% higher at
97.35 cents per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)
CASH MARKETS
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jun 3
All figures are on a per-head basis.
Date Standard Margin Estimated margin
Operating Index at vertically -
integrated operations
Jun 3 +$ 79.85 +$ 26.97
Jun 2 +$ 77.96 +$ 25.59
Jun 1 +$ 94.19 +$ 40.23
* 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 132.7
(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 133.6
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports
Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Wednesday fell $22.83 per
hundred pounds, to $295.90, according to the USDA. Select-grade
prices fell $13.80 per hundred pounds, to $276.78. The total load
count was 141. Wholesale pork prices rose 64 cents, to $74.28 a
hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 03, 2020 17:39 ET (21:39 GMT)
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