THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME

Taco Meat Tuesday | October 13th, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Taco Meat Tuesday, October 13th. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: The next move in protein may not come from Chicago or the Southern Plains. It may come from overseas. Brazil is looking for new beef customers as China limits imports and Europe closes its doors. China is buying less foreign pork, and Spain is redirecting product following disease-related trade restrictions. That's a lot of meat looking for a home. I'm not suggesting we'll suddenly see cheaper beef or pork. But when major exporters start competing for different customers, pricing opportunities can develop. Sometimes the biggest opportunities aren't created by what happens here, but by what's changing somewhere else.

HOST: Choice advanced two twenty-one Monday to three seventy-five fifty-six. Fresh domestic nineties averaged three ninety-six. Imported frozen nineties indications near three seventeen to three nineteen are worth watching, but they are not directly comparable. Cattle slaughter remains seven point four percent below last year. The five-area live F-O-B average stood at two twenty twenty.

SHAWN: Pork delivered Monday's strongest move. The cutout advanced two forty-seven to eighty-two ninety-seven. Hams up three thirty-three. Bellies up two oh six to ninety-one thirty-three. The question is whether that improvement holds. Chicken breasts averaged one eighteen. Thighs one sixty-eight. Slaughter is up one point three percent. December corn closed at four eighty-three. Meal at three sixty-eight seventy. Monday's pork rebound was worth noticing. So is the changing international trade outlook. The numbers tell us where the market stands. Knowing which ones could change tomorrow is what gives buyers an advantage. Stay disciplined.

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

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.