Alerts & What’s TRending
- Hormel launches premium chili
- Yelp expands efforts to add health inspection scores for restaurant reviews nationwide
- Grubhub announced that it has agreed to acquire LevelUp, the digital ordering and loyalty platform, for $390 million.
- Kraft Heinz Co. recalls Taco Bell cheese sauce for botulism risk
The Farm
Poultry
Last week the ARA Chicken Wing Index flashed its lowest reading for the week since 2014. Wing prices should rise in the coming weeks.
Beef
The USDA reported that July 1 U.S. cattle on feed rose 4.3 percent from 2017, and June placements were 1.3 percent stronger than last year.
Pork
The wholesale USDA pork markets were mostly lower on Friday. The pork-belly primal dropped a whopping $.116 and likely set a seasonal top.
The Sea
Seafood
No updates for this week.
The Garden
Produce
The Tomato Markets remain steady in most growing regions. Currently, Alabama, Baja California, California, Georgia, Illinois, Mexico, South Carolina, Missouri, and Tennesse are producing good volumes. Quality has been very good across the majority of the growing regions. Eastern Cucumber, Bell Pepper, and Squash crops have continued to pick up in the Summer growing regions of Virginia, the Carolinas, Michigan, and New York, along with the several local deals that are in place. Overall supplies for these Markets are lower than normal, but quality has improved. Strawberry supplies are lower due to the increased heat the crops has received over the last several weeks. The Quality has improved due to the lower temperatures. Growers anticipate an increase in supplies come August and September when the fall crop is in full swing. As mentioned last week the Lemon market is in Demand Exceeds Supply due to Extreme heat in the growing region coupled with lighter than forecasted supplies from Chile and Argentina. Supplies are expected to remain limited until Mid-September. Overall Avocado Market Pricing has decreased across all sizes due to Mexicos new crop Flor Loca, but supplies are lower than usual and are expected to remain lower through August. Please refer to the below commodity comments for other significant Market updates and important Market information.
The Kitchen Sink
Dairy
New Zealand’s June milk production jumped 11.4 percent from last year. Of course, June is the start of winter for New Zealand and out put is typically small, anyway.
Grains
All three wheat-futures contracts on Friday hit one-month highs while soybeans rose for the fifth consecutive day the first time that’s happened since March.
Gas/Oil
Baker Hughes reported that the number of U.S. crude-oil rigs declined by 5 to 858. However, that’s still 12.3 percent more than for the same week in 2017.
