Assuming that the lion's share of cash business was transacted on Thursday, the late-week cash cattle trade should be pretty slow. Look for scattered clean-up action here and there at prices well established Thursday (i.e., $126 to $127 live; $204 to $205 dressed). Two basic factors seem to characterize this week's trade: 1) decent packer margins have worked to underpin cash stability; 2) discounted futures just didn't seem to care. Live and feeder futures should open higher, supported by late-week short-covering and relative cash strength.
Hog buyers should resume work Friday with bids steady to $1 lower. March is typically a rough month for pork demand, and this week's struggling carcass has certainly played true to form in that regard. Yet the cash market has held up relatively well (i.e., lower, but certainly not as sorry as the product trade). If the Saturday hog kill totals are close to 115,000 head, the weekly total should amount to close to 2.4 million. Lean futures are expected to open under pressure, linked to residual selling and struggling carcass value.
| BULL SIDE | BEAR SIDE | ||
| 1) | Ignoring bearish tantrums on the board, the cash cattle market traded a decent number of steers and heifers Thursday on a steady/firm basis. Such a disconnect speaks highly of manageable feed supplies and decent beef processing margins. | 1) | Live and feeder futures continued to aggressively erode on Thursday, breaking to multi-month lows. |
| 2) | Beef cutouts closed significantly higher Thursday, further padding packer margins and incentive to support the feedlot trade. | 2) | Beyond this week's cash stability, the breathtaking size of the board discount will continue to check feedlot leverage, encouraging even stubborn bulls to sell sooner rather than later. |
| 3) | Trump's decision to exempt Canada and Mexico from steel and aluminum tariffs should probably be seen as positive for NAFTA negotiations. | 3) | The wholesale pork trade just can't find the brakes. Imploding belly demand once again caused carcass value to close sharply lower. |
| 4) | While it's been a bloody week for lean hog futures, summer contracts seem to be expecting longer-term support at 77. This fact, plus significantly oversold oscillators, should soon trigger a major short-covering rally. | 4) | The Trump Administration made tariffs in imported steel and aluminum official on Thursday and many nations have already indicated intent to retaliate. History suggests that protectionism often leads to slower economic growth. |
CATTLE: (CNBC) -- McDonald's announced Tuesday it will use fresh beef in some of its U.S. burgers, prompting rival Wendy's to lay down some fresh-never-frozen ribbing.
Wendy's has for years boasted its beef patties are never-frozen, a distinction it says sets it apart from competitors. So, after McDonald's told the world it will begin to offer fresh beef in Quarter Pounders and Signature Crafted Recipe sandwiches at a quarter of its U.S. restaurants, Wendy's went whole ham.
Hey @McDonalds, heard the news. Happy #NationalFrozenFoodDay to you for all the frozen beef that's sticking around in your cheeseburgers.
That back-handed how-do-you-do was followed by a series of tweets featuring photos of sad-looking McDonald's burgers.
Wendy's put a bow on its tirade with this final heavy handed callback to its motto.
"Some people are going to use fresh beef in SOME cheeseburgers, SOME of the time," it tweeted. "We believe in using fresh, never frozen beef in every cheeseburger everyday."
The company's chief concept and marketing officer Kurt Kane explained the reason for the social media blitz to Business Insider. "We wanted to make sure that people aren't confused about what is communicated and what is reality," he said.
HOGS:(GlobalMeatNews) -- The Danish government has allocated DKK12.5 million (m) to a three-year research project into how to reduce the need for antibiotics among its pigs.
It hopes that 1.5 million pigs will be produced without antibiotics by 2021. There are currently 200,000 pigs produced without antibiotics.
The project is being run by Danish Crown, Denmark's Technical University, Copenhagen University, Statens Serum Institut and agricultural service SEGES. In addition, the Environment and Food Ministry's Green Development and Demonstration programme has contributed DKK12.5m to the project. The total budget for the project is DKK15.5m.
Environment and food minister Esben Lunde Larsen said: "This project means we're taking an important step towards being able to produce more pigs without the use of antibiotics."
The purpose of the scheme is to create a scientifically robust basis for increasing pig production without the use of antibiotics throughout the entire lifecycle of the pig (known in Denmark as OUA pigs) so that OUA production can become a profitable business.
No comments:
Post a Comment