TOP STORIES

 

Chicken Shortage Sends Prices Soaring, and Restaurants Can't Keep Up

Chicken wings are flying off the shelves.

After a year promoting takeout wings and crispy chicken sandwiches, restaurants including KFC, Wingstop Inc. and Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. say they are paying steep prices for scarce poultry. Some are running out of or limiting sales of tenders, filets and wings, cutting into some of their most reliable sales.

Independent eateries and bars have gone weeks without wings, owners say. Chicken breast prices have more than doubled since the beginning of the year, and wing prices have hit records, according to market-research firm Urner Barry.

 

Pandemic Continues to Weigh on Beyond Meat -- Market Talk

1623 ET - Beyond Meat reports a larger-than-expected quarterly loss as the faux meat maker says the pandemic continues to take a toll on its restaurant clientele. The California-based Beyond Burger parent reports a $27.3M loss for the quarter ended April 3, versus a $1.8M profit for the same quarter a year earlier, as sales rise 11% to $108.2M. Analysts surveyed by FactSet anticipated a smaller loss and a slightly bigger increase in sales. Beyond Meat says its revenues reflect the company's efforts to lower prices and promote its beef and pork alternatives. Beyond Meat shares fall 5.9% after closing 2.1% lower. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

 

Zambeef Shares Rise as It Expects FY 2021 Profit to Beat Views

Shares in Zambeef Products PLC rose Thursday after the company said it expects profit for fiscal 2021 to be ahead of market forecasts.

The Zambia-based cold-chain food producer, which has a listing in London, said it anticipates adjusted pretax profit, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and earnings before interest and taxes to be 20% to 30% ahead of market consensus for the year ending Sept. 30.

 

STORIES OF INTEREST

 

USDA Helps Launch 10-Year Effort to Conserve US Land and Water -- Market Talk

1119 ET - USDA Secretary Vilsack and other government officials unveil a report kicking off a decade-long effort to conserve and restore 30% of US lands and waters by 2030, called the country's first ever national conservation goal. The initiative comes in response to an executive order from the Biden administration directing federal agencies to collaborate to fight climate change, and will lean on "locally led and voluntary" efforts, according to officials. Vilsack said the campaign seeks to boost, incentivize and reward voluntary conservation efforts by US farmers and ranchers, who are bearing the brunt of climate change. (jesse.newman@wsj.com; @jessenewman13)

 

Beyond Meat Reinstates Guidance as Restaurants Reopen -- Market Talk

16:37 ET - Beyond Meat was among many companies that stopped trying to predict sales and other performance in 2020 as Covid-19 upended the American economy, closing restaurants that were core to the plant-based meat producer's growth. A year later, as pandemic restrictions ease, Beyond says it's going to try again, at least for the current quarter. As Beyond reports 1Q numbers, the company says its 2Q sales are likely to range between $135M to $150M, up 19% to 32% versus the year-ago period. That's generally in line with analysts' average projections, with firms surveyed by FactSet estimating sales rising 25% to $141.3M for the period. Beyond says it's still too soon to give full-year projections. Shares fall 5.5% after hours. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

 

FUTURES MARKETS

 

Livestock Futures Finish Higher -- Market Talk

1502 ET - Livestock futures on the CME closed higher -- with live cattle futures up 0.7% to $1.156 per pound and lean hog futures up 0.1% to $1.1475 per pound. For hogs, today started as a correction, but eventually finished slightly above where it opened. Longer-term, hog supplies appear supportive for higher futures. "Hog supplies in the cash market remain extremely tight and this is reflected in the prices paid in the open market," says Steiner Consulting Group. Pork cutouts were higher midday, according to the USDA -- with the carcass price up $2.72 per hundredweight to $114.63 per cwt. Loin, ham and belly prices are all higher as of midday. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

 

CASH MARKETS

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - May 6 
 
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 
 
May  6       -$ 26.23            +$ 99.92 
May  5       -$ 29.07            +$ 95.58 
May  4       -$ 25.74            +$ 93.55 
 
* 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   71.4 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)      Select   70.5 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Thursday rose $1.59 per hundred pounds, to $306.37, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose $3.18 per hundred pounds, to $289.36. The total load count was 100. Wholesale pork prices rose/fell $2.02, to $112.21 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 06, 2021 17:47 ET (21:47 GMT)

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