TOP STORIES

Cargill's CEO on Preventing Covid-19 Surge From Disrupting the Food Supply

David MacLennan steered one of the world's biggest food suppliers through Covid-19's world-wide spread in the spring. Now he is bracing for another surge.

Cargill Inc., a 155-year-old company with 155,000 employees in 70 countries, straddles the global food- and agriculture-supply chains, processing farmers' crops, packing meat and distributing sugar, salt, cotton and other commodities. Its plants supply some of the world's biggest consumer brands, supermarket chains and restaurants.

Compass Group Expected to Post Lower FY 2020 Profit, Underlying Revenue -- Market Talk

1059 GMT - Compass Group is expected to report a significantly reduced pretax profit and lower underlying revenue when it releases its earnings for fiscal 2020 on Tuesday. The FTSE-100 food-services company is forecast to make a pretax profit of GBP345.5 million for the year, according to a consensus estimate based on seven analyst projections on FactSet. This compares with GBP1.47 billion in fiscal 2019. Underlying revenue is expected to fall to GBP20.21 billion from GBP25.15 billion a year earlier, also taken from FactSet and based on 18 analyst forecasts. (matteo.castia@dowjones.com)

STORIES OF INTEREST

Chinese Demand Drives Soybean and Corn Inspections -- Market Talk

11:26 ET - China is the main destination for both corn and soybean export inspections, according to USDA data. In its weekly export inspections report, the USDA says 832,637 metric tons of corn are slated for inspection this week, along with 2.01M tons of soybeans. China is the destination for 200,860 tons of corn--second to only Mexico--and the destination for 1.39M tons of soybeans, the top destination for soybeans. Export demand is a driver of grain futures Monday, as China may be nervous about difficulties hitting Brazilian crops, says Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "First-crop corn production is adversely impacted in Brazil as well." (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

FUTURES MARKETS

Short-Term Demand Supports Cattle Futures -- Market Talk

15:09 ET - Although market signals suggest that beef demand in the next month or so will be weaker than last year, short term appetite for beef is supporting the futures contract currently. "With a supportive USDA report, continued strength in the beef market and supportive outside market forces this morning, the market acts like a short-term low may be in place," says RJO Futures. However, even with the February contract up 2% to $1.129 per pound Monday, the upward momentum isn't expected to last - with traders fearing "that the short-term surge in virus cases will hurt demand into the holiday season." Meanwhile, lean hog futures closed 2.7% higher at 67.125 cents per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

CASH MARKETS


 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Nov 23 
 
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 
 
Nov 23       +$ 35.11            +$ 38.14 
Nov 20       +$ 34.29            +$ 38.25 
Nov 19       +$ 35.60            +$ 40.57 
 
* 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  103.9 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)      Select  102.9 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Monday rose $3.25 per hundred pounds, to $241.60, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose $2.50 per hundred pounds, to $217.48. The total load count was 122. Wholesale pork prices fell 5 cents, to $76.81 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-23-20 1714ET