TOP STORIES

Seasonal Beef Production Drops Lower Than Usual -- Market Talk

11:15 ET - In the week through Saturday, packing plants produced 468.7M pounds of beef. While that's down 1.2% from last week, that's up 8.8% from last year as warmer-than-usual weather in beef-producing states is increasing cattle weights. Rich Nelson at Allendale says the next month is the contract's best bet for a bounce as we enter a period of seasonally tight supplies. Meatpackers paid $1.19-$1.20/pound on average in Kansas, Iowa and Texas last week, $1.20 in Nebraska and $1.20-$1.205 in Colorado. Prices were $1.90 dressed in Nebraska and Iowa. (julie.wernau@wsj.com)

Canada's Maple Leaf Foods Buys Maker of Meatless Products

The latest deal in the food sector came on Tuesday afternoon when Canadian meat company Maple Leaf Foods Inc. said it was acquiring a company specializing in vegetarian sausages and burgers.

Maple Leaf, which sells bacon, sausages and deli meat, is buying Lightlife Foods Inc., which sells plant-based meat substitutes, for $140 million from buyout firm Brynwood Partners, according to the companies.

Tyson Seeks Lead in No-Antibiotics Poultry

Tyson Foods Inc. plans to eliminate antibiotics used on poultry in its flagship chicken products, as the largest U.S. meat company by revenue mounts a new push to burnish its brands.

Executives expect the move, which will end use of antibiotics on the chickens used to make Tyson-branded breasts, wings and nuggets, will vault the company to the top of the rapidly expanding "no antibiotics ever" market. Those products can sell for 20% more than conventional versions, though they tend to cost more to make.

STORIES OF INTEREST

After Decades, Tyson's Chicken Gets New Packaging -- Market Talk

14:48 ET - Tyson Foods (TSN) is making changes to the way it raises many more of the 35M chickens it slaughters each week, eliminating antibiotics used to raise birds for its flagship Tyson-brand products, but it's also changing the way its fresh meat is packaged. Tyson CEO Tom Hayes says the company plans to replace the foam trays that have housed its shrink-wrapped fresh chicken for decades, moving to clear trays that can extend shelf life, potentially reducing food waste. The company outlines a range of sustainability goals as it works to promote its expanded line of branded meat products, which have become the top focus for the biggest U.S. meat company. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

Souring Dairy Price Reflects Stabilizing Supply -- Market Talk

2020 GMT - Westpac is sticking with its farmgate milk price forecast in New Zealand, despite another sour outcome in the Global Dairy Trade auction overnight. Dairy prices fell 3.2%, erasing modest gains in the previous two auctions, with whole-milk powder prices dropping 3.7% to their lowest level since October. Westpac says the drop in prices follows Fonterra Co-operative's (FCG.NZ) upgrade to its milk collections for this season, with its collections now expected to be down 5% from last season from the 7% fall previously forecast. "We had expected some retracement in global prices as supply conditions in New Zealand and abroad begun to stabilize," Westpac says. "As such, we remain comfortable with our forecast for a NZ$6.20/kilogram milk solids for this season." (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

Another Georgia Chicken Pricing Benchmark Shelved -- Market Talk

13:28 ET - The Georgia Department of Agriculture is pulling the plug on its new chicken-pricing benchmark before the measure even got off the ground. The agency's planned Georgia Premium Poultry Price Index had aimed to replace the Georgia Dock index, a decades-old benchmark for chicken meat pricing that drew controversy after complaints that its prices tended to range higher than other, similar measures, and that it was compiled using only data from chicken companies. Georgia mothballed the Georgia Dock in December and announced plans for a replacement, but issues a notice saying that "due to a lack of available data, the Georgia Department of Agriculture will cease its efforts to publish the Georgia Premium Poultry Price Index." A spokeswoman had no immediate further comment. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

Texas Roadhouse Hit By High Costs, Weak Sales -- Market Talk

16:40 ET - Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) falls in extended trading after the steakhouse chain misses Wall Street expectations on both the top and bottom lines and same-store sales also disappoint. It looks like the pressure will remain as the company says that for the first 55 days of the current quarter, SSS increased "approximately 1.5%" versus the 3.1% analysts are projecting. Restaurant margin also taking a hit as company says higher wages and "higher costs associated with payroll taxes, insurance reserve adjustments and gift card fees more than offset the benefit of lower food costs." TXRH off 7.4% to $44.25 after-hours. (patrick.sheridan@wsj.com)

FUTURES MARKETS

Cattle Futures Rise With Fewer Feeder Cattle Marketed; Hogs Slump

U.S. cattle futures gained Tuesday as traders eye tighter supplies of feeder cattle available to the market at time of seasonally lower supplies.

Showlists were about 19,000 head smaller as potentially disruptive winter weather is expected in Nebraska and Iowa toward the end of the week. Snow accumulation of up to a foot is expected in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, which could disrupt the movement of cattle to feedlots.

CASH MARKETS

 
Zumbrota, Minn Hog Steady At $46.00 - Feb 21 
 

Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today are steady at $46.00 per hundredweight. Sow prices are $1.00-$2.00 higher on light sows and $1.00 higher on over 500 pound sows. Sows weighing under 450 pounds are $23.00-$24.00, 400-450 pounds are at $23.00-$24.00, 450-500 pounds are $23.00-$24.00 and those over 500 pounds are $26.00-$28.00.

The day's total run is estimated at 125 head.

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Feb 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 
                                      * 
Feb 21       +$16.45             +$ 47.57 
Feb 20       +$16.60             +$ 48.71 
Feb 17       +$15.59             +$ 47.33 
 
* 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   90.6 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select   91.2 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Tuesday rose 90 cents per hundred pounds, to $191.81, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices fell 59 cents per hundred pounds, to $189.81. The total load count was 142. Wholesale pork prices fell 53 cents to $83.86 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2017 18:05 ET (23:05 GMT)