Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was undeveloped through Wednesday afternoon.
There were 542 head offered in the weekly Fed Cattle Exchange auction, and no takers.
Except for spot Feeder Cattle, Cattle futures ended up little changed, despite a fair bit of pressure for much of the session.
Other than an average of 21¢ lower in the back two contracts, Live Cattle futures closed an average of 25¢ higher.
Except for 97¢ lower in spot Jan and 5¢ lower in Mar, Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 27¢ higher.
Corn futures closed 1¢ to 2¢ higher.
Except for 1¢ higher in the front three contracts, Soybean futures closed mostly unchanged to fractionally lower.
Wholesale beef values were weak on Choice and higher on Select with light to moderate demand and offerings, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 28¢ lower Wednesday afternoon at $211.93/cwt. Select was $1.07 higher at $206.94.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher again Wednesday, helped along by strong quarterly earnings from banks, including Goldman Sachs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 141 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 5 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 10 points.
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The market for alternative proteins—fake meat—is growing but still miniscule.
For instance, in a late 2017 CoBank report, Euromonitor International projected U.S. sales of meat substitutes would rise steadily to $863 million in 2021, about 17% more than estimated sales in 2017. At the time, the retail market size was $49 billion is sales for the U.S. meat and poultry category.
Similarly, a study released by Research and Markets last summer, valued the global meat substitute market size at $4,175 million in 2017, and projected it to reach $7,549 million by 2025
Fake meat products built with plant protein dominate the market currently. Fake meat products cultured from animal cells remain unavailable for a host of reasons, including the lack of regulatory framework.
For perspective, according to NPD research, 14% of U.S. consumers—more than 43 million consumers—regularly use plant-based alternatives such as almond milk, tofu, and veggie burgers, and 86% of these consumers do not consider themselves vegan or vegetarian.