Thursday Margin Monitor | September 10, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Thursday Margin Monitor, September tenth. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Everybody is watching Brazil. I'm watching October. Over fifteen years, October nineties have averaged four point nine percent below September—and lower every year. Cattle slaughter is down eight percent. The seasonal hasn't changed. The market around it has.

HOST: Wednesday was not one margin story.

SHAWN: Choice gained three twenty. Select lost three oh five. The spread blew out to twenty-eight forty-three. Fifties dropped to ninety-three cents. Nineties and eighty-fives did not establish. Cash cattle stayed quiet. Late-week trade matters more than the quiet start.

HOST: Pork has cheaper hogs and a compressed spread. Chicken has more birds. Crude jumped three dollars to ninety-six.

SHAWN: Smithfield expects a seventy to ninety million dollar Fresh Pork loss in the third quarter while Hog Production stays profitable. Bellies bounced almost fourteen cents after Tuesday's break. Corn fell into Friday's crop report. Feed got cheaper. Delivered cost did not.

HOST: The quota is about nineteen percent used. Imports were already filling the hole.

SHAWN: July production was short about a hundred million pounds. Imports made up most of the domestic gap. More access is not unlimited beef. Watch October. Watch what actually gets bought. Stay disciplined.

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Shawn Sparks, The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.