THE PROTEIN PULSE - Monday Market Open | November 9th, 2026 Full Executive Briefing

THE PROTEIN PULSE Monday Market Open | November 9th, 2026 Full Executive Briefing

HOST: Welcome to The Protein Pulse Podcast, your daily market update on all things protein. This is Monday Market Open for November 9th, 2026, from The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Washington changed. The consumer still decides. The election is over, the blue wave is real, and we're heading straight into Thanksgiving. That's a lot of change for an industry already dealing with expensive beef, shifting trade rules, disease threats and consumers watching every dollar. Washington is about to look very different. Farm policy, tariffs, labor and energy could all take a different direction. But don't confuse an election result with a change in protein prices. Those decisions haven't been made yet. Right now, the bigger test is happening at the grocery store. Turkey will draw shoppers through the doors, but what happens when they look at beef, pork and chicken prices? Holiday promotions can move product, but they don't make household budgets any bigger. I think we're entering a period where politics will shape the rules, but consumers will determine who wins. The industry needs to pay attention to both.

HOST: Cash cattle fall. Boxed beef moves unevenly. Heavy animals pressured cash cattle, while Friday's Choice grade fell seventy-seven cents to three sixty seventy-nine and Select grade rose to three fifty-three fifty-six. Beef export revenue rises. Pork revenue falls. September beef export value rose eight percent year over year to seven hundred twelve point four zero million dollars. Pork fell thirteen point five percent to five hundred ninety-one point three zero million dollars. Buyers and sellers face different demand by destination. Philippines announces pork-import restrictions. A sixty-day measure announced November 9th covers specified cuts and offal, complicating export plans. Reported implementation is November 24th, subject to an earlier customs directive. Product codes and permits determine exposure. Animal disease threatens livestock movements. Federal sequencing links Washington dairy H5N1 detections to likely interstate cattle movement. Mexico and Brazil report separate poultry outbreaks. Check actual movement requirements and biosecurity exposure. Screwworm cases complicate border recovery. As of November 5th, officials reported sixty-six active U.S. New World screwworm cases and one hundred sixteen confirmations since June across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Border operations face movement controls, and September Mexican feeder imports were only about sixteen percent of September 2024 levels.

SHAWN: Border recovery remains conditional. September Mexican feeder imports exceeded thirteen thousand head but stayed well below normal. Actual crossings depend on disease controls. Cash cattle retreat. Buying terms shift. Friday's Nebraska dressed cattle traded mostly at three thirty a hundredweight, five to eight dollars below Wednesday. Western Cornbelt live cattle traded mostly at two ten a hundredweight. Southern sales near two fifteen a hundredweight were too limited for a regional test. Thursday's separate five-area beef-type steer-and-heifer live F-O-B average was two fifteen sixty-two. Its accumulated live-steer average declined from two twenty-three ninety-five to two sixteen fifty-two in a week, down seven forty-three. The periods and categories are different. Friday's Choice grade cutout fell seventy-seven cents to three sixty seventy-nine. Select grade rose one twenty-four to three fifty-three fifty-six. The Choice Select spread narrowed two oh one to seven twenty-three. Negotiate on the cuts actually purchased. Imported beef changes grinding economics. September imports rose fifty percent year over year to about five hundred sixty-seven million pounds, carcass-weight equivalent. Friday's domestic fresh nineties was three seventy-seven. Eighty-fives two ninety-one. And fifties one oh seven. Compare frozen imports with fresh domestic trim on delivered cost, specification and yield.

HOST: Pork exports weaken, but markets diverge. September exports fell seven point five percent to two hundred sixteen thousand three hundred fifty-three metric tons, with value down thirteen point five percent. Mexican volume declined fourteen percent. Central America rose twenty-five percent. Chinese demand and competing origins add pressure. Friday's national negotiated F-O-B Plant pork cutout increased one sixty-six to seventy sixty-five. Butts rose to ninety-eight fifty-seven, picnics to fifty-nine forty-one and bellies to sixty-six thirty-four, while ribs fell to one twenty-three eighty-four. The national negotiated hog carcass base reached forty-six twenty-one, up four forty-two. A weaker futures tape and a higher Friday cutout can coexist. Neither is a substitute for current purchase offers. Philippine restrictions complicate shipping decisions. Announced November 9th, the sixty-day measure covers specified cuts and offal, not all pork. Implementation is reported for November 24th, unless customs acts sooner. Check product codes, permits and shipping dates before reallocating inventory. Bacon capacity expands. Demand is not yet measured. Daily's Premium Meats completed a one hundred million dollar St. Joseph expansion in smoking, slicing and packaging. A bacon-bits line is expected in early 2027. Incremental belly demand remains unquantified. Breast weakness contrasts with more stable whole-bird trade. For the week of November 2nd to 6th, the national whole-chicken composite averaged one seventeen ninety-five cents a pound delivered, up fifty-eight cents. Fresh boneless skinless breast meat averaged one ten thirty-four cents a pound F-O-B, down one forty-six cents, while boneless skinless thighs were one seventy forty-one cents a pound, down five cents. Whole-bird availability was