THE PROTEIN PULSE - Monday Market Open | November 2nd, 2026

Full Executive Briefing — Spoken Script

HOST: Welcome to The Protein Pulse Podcast, your daily market update on all things protein. This is Monday Market Open for November 2nd, 2026, from The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: If you're reading this, odds are high you're already packing a bag for Scottsdale, or reading it over breakfast at The Westin Kierland. The Meat Import Council of America's sixty-fifth Annual Conference isn't a passive event for our industry. It's where real business happens. While formal market reports show where trade ended up last quarter, the real intelligence comes from the conversations in between sessions, the unvarnished ground truth on import volumes, cold chain pressure points, and shifting margin realities. When you're constantly evaluating risk and securing supply, getting direct face time with peers on the same side of the trade is invaluable. Plus, doing it under a Sonoran sunset with a round of golf on the side isn't a bad way to wrap up the year. I'll be on-site throughout the event. If you want to talk strategy, test assumptions on where global markets are heading, or grab a drink, let's connect. Ask me for some Protein Pulse Swag while they last. Track me down in the hallway and let's talk real market reality.

HOST: A new U.S. beef-import quota window opened this morning. CBP opened qualification for a third one hundred thousand metric ton tranche. Importers still need an allocation and an executable landed offer. Cattle break hard as cash trade softens. December live cattle lost five thirty-five cents a pound Friday and January feeders fell ten eighteen cents a pound. Delayed marketings expose feedlots to additional feed and price risk. Pilgrim's Pride posts a steep profit decline. Third-quarter earnings fell to one hundred seventeen point six zero million from three hundred forty-two point eight zero million as commodity returns weakened while prepared foods grew. Mexico reopens poultry imports from eligible Brazilian origins. Santa Catarina remains restricted after a third Newcastle outbreak. Eligible suppliers elsewhere regain a potential outlet. Screwworm reaches Arizona while Mexican feeder imports continue. Cochise County faces movement controls, while import flows through open ports matter for feeder availability. USDA plans sixty-one million dollars in pork and chicken purchases. Solicitations and delivery schedules will determine when that demand reaches processors. Iran diplomacy moves oil, but freight risk persists. Sunday evening crude weakened, but Hormuz shipping disruptions still expose protein freight to higher costs.

SHAWN: CBP opened qualification this morning for the third one hundred thousand metric ton additional beef tariff-rate quota tranche covering eligible other countries or areas entries. Importers may face proration in oversubscribed tariff-code groups, so allocation determines how much in-quota supply they can actually book. The proclamation's twenty-five percent monitoring condition compares entered lean-trim selling prices with market prices. It does not guarantee a buyer discount. December live cattle settled at two twenty ninety-five Friday, down five thirty-five, while January feeders lost ten eighteen to three thirty-one seventy-eight. National negotiated live cattle averaged two twenty-three seventy-four F-O-B and dressed cattle three forty-five delivered. Larger showlists and delayed pickups extend feed and price exposure for affected feedlots. Estimated cattle slaughter for the week ending October 31st was five hundred forty-three thousand head, down three thousand week over week. Choice grade boxed beef finished at three sixty-four sixty-six, down two sixty-two. Select grade rose to three fifty-one ninety-eight, narrowing the Choice Select spread to twelve sixty-eight. The spread between live-cattle costs and wholesale beef revenues is more consequential to plant returns than either quote alone. Platts assessed imported frozen nineties at three nineteen C-I-F U.S. East Coast and three thirteen F-C-A East Coast on October 29th. Market correspondence reported a Brazil-origin ninety trade at three oh oh F-O-B U.S. East Coast port of entry for November delivery, and a New Zealand ninety-five CL December shipment at three thirty-seven C-I-F U.S. coast. Friday's domestic fresh nineties averaged three seventy-one F-O-B plant. Product condition, grade, duty and freight determine whether a quoted import price translates into a competitive delivered offer.

HOST: The pork cutout ended Friday at seventy ten, down fifty-nine cents. Picnics fell seven eighty-six to fifty-one thirty-nine, while bellies rose seven sixteen to seventy-two eighty-five. National negotiated hog carcass prices averaged sixty twenty-nine, down three forty-nine. Weekly estimated slaughter was two point six oh eight million head, little changed from the previous week. Divergent primal values change realized returns by fabrication mix. Picnic buyers have a different negotiating position from bacon buyers. The planned Section 32 purchases could provide a demand outlet for eligible products. Awards, quantities and delivery schedules are not yet confirmed, so the announcement alone cannot establish tighter availability or a higher cutout. Third-quarter profit declined to one hundred seventeen point six zero million from three hundred forty-two point eight zero million a year earlier, while revenue fell two point two percent to about four point seven zero billion. U.S. chicken supply grew two point two percent year over year, outpacing demand growth and weighing on commodity operations. U.S. prepared-food volumes grew fifteen percent year over year, and Just Bare retail sales rose twenty-five percent, according to the company. Product mix is separating commodity returns from branded growth. USDA's October 26th to 30th weekly report showed boneless skinless breasts at one eleven eighty, down one twenty, and boneless skinless thighs at one seventy forty-six, down four thirty. Buyers need cut-specific coverage rather than relying on the broader supply increase. More than forty-four thousand turkeys were affected in a Sac County detection, Iowa's eighth reported outbreak of 2026. State disaster measures support response through November 27th. Affected suppliers face immediate biosecurity and scheduling exposure. A national turkey shortfall has not been established. USDA has separately planned twenty million dollars in chicken purchases. Awards remain pending.

SHAWN: A dog in Cochise County tested positive October 28th, triggering a twenty-kilometer infested zone, animal-movement controls, surveillance and sterile-fly releases. October 30th reporting listed seventy-five cumulative U.S. detections, including twenty-one active domestic-animal cases. The detection raises inspection and movement costs without establishing a cattle-border closure. Across their reported reopening periods, Douglas, Arizona, received thirty-eight thousand four hundred fifty-six Mexican feeder cattle and Santa Teresa, New Mexico, received thirteen thousand three hundred seventeen. Columbus reopened October 26th, with volumes not yet reported. The next import tally will show whether expanded port access translates into additional head. Brent was quoted at one eleven eighty-four a barrel and West Texas Crude at one oh two fifty-six a barrel in early November 2nd Asian trading as Iranian and Qatari discussions continued. A later Sunday-evening West Texas Crude indication was one oh oh ninety-six a barrel. OPEC plus left December targets unchanged. These preliminary quotes have not translated into confirmed diesel or freight savings amid Hormuz shipping risk. Mexico now recognizes regional restrictions on Brazilian poultry imports. Eligible suppliers outside Santa Catarina may resume trade under sanitary conditions, while the affected state stays restricted. Brazil reports a third Newcastle disease outbreak in Santa Catarina, within the existing emergency zone. Exporters regain access to a destination, while eligible plants, products and actual shipment volumes still govern sales. Brazil reports that its combined meat exports to the European Union rose to two hundred seventy-two thousand metric tons in May through September from one hundred one thousand a year earlier, a one hundred seventy percent volume increase. This is the aggregate meat category, not a beef-only figure. That wider EU outlet may affect competing export offers. The aggregate cannot establish beef, pork or poultry volumes separately. USDA announced four hundred seventy-two point five zero million dollars in planned commodity purchases, including forty-one million for pork and twenty million for chicken. Separately, a USDA-backed twenty-four point six zero million dollar commercial loan supports a proposed Dimmitt, Texas, beef facility designed to process four hundred cattle daily and employ two hundred twenty people. Neither announced purchases nor proposed plant capacity are operating transactions yet. Workers are defending fourteen preliminary settlements totaling two hundred two point eight zero million dollars in a beef and pork processing wage-fixing case. Justice Department objections focus on safeguards in twelve agreements. Final court approval is pending. Processors face continued compliance exposure. The allegations have not been adjudicated. Negotiations remain unsettled over provisions including Proposition 12 preemption and mandatory beef country-of-origin labeling. Current sourcing and labeling rules still govern. Neither proposal has become law.

HOST: Procurement radar. Beef. Monitor. Confirm actual quota allocation and request firm imported-trim landed offers. Assess cash-cattle bids as a separate exposure. Pork. Wait. Negotiate by primal and trim specification. Watch USDA purchase solicitations rather than announced dollar totals. Chicken. Monitor. Check Mexican access for specific Brazilian establishments and products, and review turkey supplier biosecurity. Maintain cut-specific breast and thigh coverage. Feed. Monitor. Watch delivered grain and meal basis, not just futures, as harvest and export demand develop. Fuel. Monitor. Check diesel and freight contracts against the oil selloff. No confirmed transportation savings yet.

SHAWN: Quota access, Brazilian poultry eligibility and weaker cattle futures each change a different commercial decision. Importers need confirmed allocations and delivered offers. Poultry buyers need eligible plants and shipment commitments. Cattle operators need executable cash bids. The numbers in a report establish the starting point. The terms someone will actually honor determine the deal. Stay disciplined.

HOST: That's The Protein Pulse, Monday Market Open for November 2nd. From Shawn Sparks and The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.