LIVESTOCK HIGHLIGHTS: Top Stories of the Day
11 June 2021 - 07:52AM
Dow Jones News
TOP STORIES
From Beans to Burgers, Food Is Getting More Expensive
Soup, Spam and Shake Shack burgers are all getting more
expensive as food companies pass along higher costs to
consumers.
General Mills Inc., Campbell Soup Co., Unilever PLC, and J.M.
Smucker Co. are among food makers raising prices at supermarkets.
Restaurants including Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Cracker
Barrel Old Country Store Inc. have raised menu prices. Executives
say they expect more price increases this summer as costs remain
elevated for labor, commodities and transport.
"We're in a period of unprecedented commodity inflation,"
Unilever Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope told investors Monday.
He said Unilever would recover some of those costs in part by
selling smaller packages of some foods at the same price as a
larger size.
JBS Paid $11 Million to Resolve Ransomware Attack -- WSJ
JBS USA Holdings Inc. paid an $11 million ransom to
cybercriminals who last week temporarily knocked out plants that
process roughly one-fifth of the nation's meat supply, the
company's chief executive said.
The ransom payment, in bitcoin, was made to shield JBS meat
plants from further disruption and to limit the potential impact on
restaurants, grocery stores and farmers that rely on JBS, said
Andre Nogueira, chief executive of Brazilian meat company JBS SA's
U.S. division.
"It was very painful to pay the criminals, but we did the right
thing for our customers," Mr. Nogueira said Wednesday in an
interview with The Wall Street Journal. He added that the payment
was made after the majority of JBS plants were up and running
again.
STORIES OF INTEREST
Dave & Buster's Says Revenue May Return to Pre-Pandemic
Levels in 2Q, But Margins Face Pressure
Dave & Buster's Entertainment Inc. believes it may get back
to 2019 revenues during its current quarter but faces profit-margin
pressure amid high expenses for workers and other costs.
The entertainment-venue chain on Thursday said it expects to
generate $335 million to $350 million in revenue for its fiscal
second quarter, compared with $345 million for the same period in
2019, before the pandemic.
Smucker CFO Weighs Additional Price Hikes if Inflation Exceeds
Forecasts
J.M. Smucker Co. is looking at another round of potential price
increases on top of hikes planned for July if inflation outpaces
the food maker's current forecasts.
Smucker is facing higher costs for ingredients such as coffee,
peanuts, soybeans and animal fats, as well as for packaging and
transportation, making it necessary to pass some of these on to
consumers, Chief Financial Officer Tucker Marshall said.
FUTURES MARKETS
Cattle Futures Higher on Strong Demand -- Market Talk
15:05 ET - Live cattle futures finish trading higher Thursday,
with the most-active contract closing up 0.2% to $1.1855 per pound.
Driving this turnaround is strong demand for meat, says the
American Farm Bureau Federation. "So far, 2021 has been a story of
rising beef prices supported by extremely healthy demand for beef,"
says the AFBF. "There are a variety of factors contributing to
this, ranging from government stimulus to economies reopening.
Grocery stores, food service and exporters are all competing for
product." In its WASDE report today, the USDA raised its outlook
for beef exports based on stronger Asian demand. Lean hog futures
finished down 0.1% at $1.21325 per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com;
@kirkmaltais)
CASH MARKETS
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jun 10
Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations.
All figures are on a per-head basis.
Date Standard Margin Estimated margin
Operating Index at vertically -
integrated operations
Jun 10 +$ 9.85 +$131.39
Jun 9 +$ 14.53 +$132.25
Jun 8 +$ 22.66 +$134.07
* 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 136.9
(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 136.2
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports
Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Thursday fell 40 cents per
hundred pounds, to $338.25, according to the USDA. Select-grade
prices rose $2.53 per hundred pounds, to $310.40. The total load
count was 110. Wholesale pork prices fell 40 cents, to $132.18 a
hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 10, 2021 17:39 ET (21:39 GMT)
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