THE PROTEIN PULSE

Taco Meat Tuesday | October 20th, 2026

Full Executive Briefing — Spoken Script

HOST: Welcome to The Protein Pulse Podcast, your daily market update on all things protein. This is Taco Meat Tuesday for October 20th, 2026, from The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Here's what caught my attention Monday. Cattle cost more, processors ran more head, and Choice beef still lost ground. Select went the other direction. That's a difficult combination to manage. Packers have more product to sell, but higher cattle costs don't disappear because a customer refuses an offer. Pork is presenting a similar challenge. Bellies and hams weakened even with fewer hogs processed last week. In chicken, breasts and thighs are moving in opposite directions. Overseas, suppliers are competing for customers in markets that don't necessarily want the same products. None of those developments means the entire protein market is getting cheaper. They tell me something more useful. The next change in buying leverage won't arrive evenly. It will show up in particular products, from particular suppliers, for particular delivery dates. I want to know who's holding the pounds, who's buying them, and how long each side can wait. That's where the next negotiation gets interesting.

HOST: Brazil has confirmed Newcastle disease at a commercial turkey operation in Santa Catarina, triggering reported trade responses from important poultry customers. Separately, Reuters reports Chinese chicken exporters challenging established suppliers across several international markets. USDA FSIS announced a major Kayem ready-to-eat meat and poultry recall following a storage-temperature problem. New Mexico confirmed additional New World screwworm cases, keeping livestock surveillance and border-movement requirements in focus. In domestic markets, cash cattle prices strengthened while Choice boxed beef declined and Select advanced. Pork bellies and picnics weakened, and chicken breasts and thighs moved in opposite directions. U.S. pork export demand remains uneven by destination, while corn harvest progress trails historical levels.

SHAWN: USDA's latest five-area negotiated live F-O-B steer average reached two twenty-four nineteen, up from two twenty fourteen the previous reporting week. Dressed delivered steers advanced to three fifty-two fifty-two from three forty-five sixty-six. Choice boxed beef declined seventy-three cents to three seventy-one fifty-eight. Select gained six eighty-six to three fifty-nine ninety-one. The Choice Select spread narrowed to eleven sixty-seven. Choice ribs remained at six seventy-three fifty-nine. Steiner Consulting's latest Daily Livestock Report described strong seasonal rib demand as holiday buyers accumulated inventory. Its report also described improved packer margins following difficult summer conditions. Estimated cattle slaughter increased to five hundred fifty-three thousand head for the week ended October 17th, compared with five hundred thirty-five thousand the preceding week. The additional volume comes against a backdrop of reduced industry processing capacity and continued constraints on cattle supplies. Manufacturing beef moved differently from the boxed-beef grade market. USDA's national fresh F-O-B plant averages put nineties at three ninety, down six seventy, and eighty-fives at three sixteen, up thirty-five. Fresh fifties averaged ninety and sixty-fives one fifty-two. Imported frozen lean remains a separate sourcing market. Platts' October 16th frozen nineties assessments were three thirteen C-I-F U.S. East Coast and three oh five F-C-A East Coast. Those port assessments differ in product condition and delivery basis from domestic fresh F-O-B plant quotations.

HOST: Brazilian Agriculture Minister André de Paula confirmed a Newcastle disease outbreak at a commercial turkey farm in Santa Catarin