LIVESTOCK HIGHLIGHTS: Top Stories of the Day
August 21 2020 - 05:30PM
Dow Jones News
TOP STORIES
Greencore to Cease Northampton Facility Production Amid Covid-19
Outbreak
Greencore Group PLC said Friday that it will temporarily halt
production at its Northampton, England facility due to a Covid-19
outbreak in the area and at the site.
The Irish sandwich-maker said it has moved a proportion of the
production from Northampton to other sites within the Greencore
network.
Cranswick Earnings Won't Be Hit by Ballymena Site Closure Amid
Virus Outbreak -- Market Talk
0646 GMT - Cranswick's closure of its Ballymena site in Northern
Ireland due to a community coronavirus outbreak won't affect the
bigger picture, Shore Capital says. "Whilst an inconvenience
outside the Group's direct control, we believe that Cranswick's two
major pig processing units in England can comfortably meet customer
requirements whilst Ballymena is down," the brokerage says. The
food producer is unlikely to suffer from any discernible hit on
earnings coming from the incident, Shore concludes.
(matteo.castia@dowjones.com)
STORIES OF INTEREST
Naspers Sees More Deals, Possibly Including Brazil's iFood --
Market Talk
12:48 ET - Naspers may have lost out on UK-based food-delivery
company Just Eat, but the South African tech company sees plenty of
opportunities in the food space. "The long-term potential in food
delivery is very meaningful, and we're looking carefully at
opportunities there," Chief Executive Bob van Dijk says at the
company's annual shareholder meeting. Naspers is already the
controlling shareholder of Brazil's iFood. Asked if Naspers would
consider buying Just Eat Takeaway.com's stake in iFood, van Dijk
says, "If there's an opportunity to buy remaining shares in that
business at the right price that will generate a return for us,
we'll always consider it." (maria.armental@wsj.com;
@mjarmental)
Higher Prices Boost Deere's Profit Gain on Ag Equipment --
Market Talk
0829 ET - Deere easily tops quarterly profit expectations by
logging a 54% increase in operating profit from its farm equipment
business. Deere managed to wring $262M of price increases from farm
equipment, despite a 5% decrease in sales. Deere now expects
overall net income for the fiscal year ending in October to come in
at about $2.25B vs. the prior guidance of $1.6B to $2B. Shares up
2.8% at $196.45 in pre-market trading. (robert.tita@wsj.com)
FUTURES MARKETS
Livestock Futures Finish Lower -- Market Talk
16:36 ET - After spending much of the day trading higher,
livestock futures reverse course, with live-cattle futures turning
down 1.1% to $1.0855 a pound and lean-hog futures dropping 1.7% to
54.25c. "Hogs started the day slightly higher but we gave up some
ground by the time we closed," Craig VanDyke of Top Third Ag
Marketing says. "While we did have a slightly lower close the
action didn't seem overwhelmingly bearish for the day. Today looked
more like some spreads unwinding into the weekend after strong bull
spreading during the middle of the week." (kirk.maltais@wsj.com;
@kirkmaltais)
CASH MARKETS
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Aug 21
Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations
All figures are on a per-head basis.
Date Standard Margin Estimated margin
Operating Index at vertically -
integrated operations
Aug 21 +$ 61.53 +$ 24.13
Aug 20 +$ 69.70 +$ 29.57
Aug 19 +$ 66.22 +$ 25.92
* 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 94.4
(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 96.8
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports
Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Friday rose 56 cents per
hundred pounds, to $225.94, according to the USDA. Select-grade
prices rose $2.68 per hundred pounds, to $208.99. The total load
count was 75. Wholesale pork prices fell $2.53, to $72.96 a hundred
pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 21, 2020 17:15 ET (21:15 GMT)
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