TOP STORIES

Tyson Foods Sees Meat Demand Growing in Asia -- Commodity Comment

Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) told investors on Thursday that the company is positioned to satisfy global demand for meat products.

Tyson estimates that 98% of the growth in global protein consumption in the next five years will occur outside the U.S. and 70% of that growth will occur in Asia.

No New Pork Sales to China, Says USDA -- Market Talk

09:00 ET - According to the USDA's latest weekly export sales figures, no new sales of pork were announced for China this week. In fact, the USDA reported a reduction of 100 metric tons in today's report. Net sales of US pork totaled 19,700 tons this week, down 15% from last week and down 50% from the average of the prior four weeks. The lack of new pork sales will likely weigh on hog futures today, as traders have been hoping for larger and more frequent US pork purchases by China in reaction to the devastation of African swine fever to the Chinese pig population. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

Hog Prices Taking a Breather, Tyson Says -- Market Talk

11:39 ET - Hog prices have cooled after a mounting toll from African swine fever in China and other Asian countries pushed prices sharply higher in the spring, but Tyson Foods expects them to resume their climb later this year as Chinese buyers begin booking orders ahead of Chinese new year in 2020. "The true impact's going to be later this fall for shipment near the end of this calendar year," Tyson CEO Noel White says at an investor event, saying that China for now has been drawing upon its frozen pork supplies in cold storage. Lean hog futures have fallen 10% over the past month, but remain 35% higher since the start of the year. Tyson is a top pork processor, and a major buyer for its Jimmy Dean and Aidells sausage brands. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

STORIES OF INTEREST

US Puts $75M Bounty on Wild Hogs -- Market Talk

10:24 ET - They've yet to make the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, but the US government considers feral hogs a top threat to the pork industry and now will pony up $75M to help kill them. The USDA plans to fund pilot programs with landowners in states across the US south, where wild hogs are most numerous and damaging, according to an announcement from the agency. Programs will include the USDA's own swine-removal efforts, restoration of wrecked habitats and agricultural land, and federal financial backing for landowners' own hog-eradication projects. With African swine fever leading to the deaths of hundreds of millions of hogs across Asia, the US pork industry is on high alert against any potential path for such diseases to spread in the US, including wild animal populations. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

Del Taco Up on Beyond Meat Burrito -- Market Talk

10:03 ET - Del Taco Restaurants up more than 3% after the California-based chain says its expanding its Beyond Meat deal to burritos. Del Taco became the first national Mexican fast-food chain to use the imitation in its tacos in April. Del Taco says its sold nearly 2 million of the tacos with Beyond Meat filling since. (heather.haddon@wsj.com; @heatherhaddon)

McDonald's Tests Robot Fryers and Voice-Activated Drive-Throughs

McDonald's Corp. is designing voice-activated drive-throughs and robotic deep-fryers as the burger giant works to streamline its menu and operations to speed up service.

The company is testing voice-recognition software at a drive-through in suburban Chicago. Inside the restaurant, a robot also tosses chicken, fish and fries into vats of oil. Both technologies are meant to shorten customer wait-times that executives acknowledge have grown in recent years. McDonald's also has stopped serving some burgers and given franchisees more control over their menus recently to simplify operations.

FUTURES MARKETS

Livestock Resumes Downward Slide -- Market Talk

15:29 ET - Despite showing signs yesterday that a short-term bottom may have been reached for both hogs and cattle futures, these contracts fell again -- with cattle down 0.6% to $1.03950 per pound and hogs down 2.5% to 80.9 cents per pound. The trend for both livestock futures look especially steep, with the cattle contract down over 13% in the past two months. Not to be outdone, hogs have fallen by nearly 17% in that time period. Cattle futures have now fallen for 6 out of the past 7 sessions. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

CASH MARKETS

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jun 20 
 
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 
 
Jun 20       -$  5.42            +$ 33.96 
Jun 19       -$  8.11            +$ 34.54 
Jun 18       +$  1.85            +$ 42.00 
 
* 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  101.1 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select  100.2 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Thursday fell 87 cents per hundred pounds, to $220.72, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices fell 76 cents per hundred pounds, to $201.48. The total load count was 103. Wholesale pork prices fell 27 cents, to $76.20 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 20, 2019 17:26 ET (21:26 GMT)