Category: Seafood

MERRIAM, KAN. – Seaboard Corp. announced its financial results for the second fiscal quarter ended July 3, 2021, including an operating income of $129 million in its Pork segment. This is up from a $9 million in the same period during 2020.Operating income for the first six months of 2021 was $190 million compared to $41 million last year.

According to the company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company reported total net sales of $2.43 billion compared to $1.81 billion during the same period last year.

In the second quarter, strong signs remained in pork segment as net sales rose to $693 million in the second quarter, about a 51% increase over the same quarter in 2020, which totaled $459 million. 

As an investor in Butterball LLC, Seaboard reported net sales of $371 million in Q2, a 13.5% increase compared to $327 million during the same period in 2020. In its turkey segment for the second quarter, the company reported a net loss of $4 million, an improvement from the previous year’s loss of $14 million.

In the SEC filing, Seaboard said Butterball products continue to increase in sales volume and higher revenue per pound. Turkey segment headwinds included a weaker sales mix due to decreased value-added product sales and higher feed and plant production costs.

“Interest costs were lower than the same periods in the prior year primarily due to mark-to-market fluctuations on interest rate swap agreements,” the company wrote in its filing. “Management is unable to predict market prices for turkey products, the cost of feed or the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for future periods. Based on these conditions, management cannot predict if this segment will be profitable for the remainder of 2021.”

Seaboard also explained in the filing that it continued to cope with challenges from COVID-19 including labor and partially staffed shifts as well as commodity market volatility.

“The near and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Seaboard’s operations and the global economy are unknown and impossible to predict with any level of certainty,” the company said. 

DALLAS — During the Annual Meat Conference, companies and brands readied their protein trend information for 2023 while showing off their latest products. 

Cargill’s North American protein business, a subsidiary of Cargill Inc., detailed the information it was seeing in the market and explained its strategy moving forward given the current protein landscape.  

The first area Cargill discussed was value-added protein. Cargill has seen growth in that sector as customers have continued to demand value-added meat products in the last few years.

Tom Windish, president of the primary business division at Cargill Protein,  said demographics are changing with Gen Z, millennials and multicultural consumers over-indexing on value-added meats.

“As our population changes, that demand continues to grow,” Windish said.

Scott Vinson, chief of customer experience, acknowledged from the company’s data that a value-added product doesn’t always have to be fully prepared, seasoned or marinated. It can also include a product in a different form, including thinly sliced, diced or lean meat. 

According to Cargill’s trend information, 73% of consumers want meals ready in 30 minutes or less. The leaders at Cargill understand that it’s about finding a balance between people who need protein fast and those who still want to cook at home.

“I think you can do both if you give it to them in a form that makes it easier for them to prepare,” Vinson said. “Back-to-work mandates are in part driving this needs-to-be-easy, needs-to-be-fast trend. We saw it before the pandemic, but now demand has really skyrocketed, and we’re seeing it come through in a big way.”

To track all these changes in the protein landscape, Cargill uses its experts to do proprietary research and works with data providers to see how the picture is constantly changing. 

“It’s a consistent effort to make sure that we’re staying on top of these trends,” Windish said. “At the end of the day, our customer success is our success, and we have to keep a pulse on what’s the latest and greatest.”

Cargill continues to look at the role frozen beef plays as a growing trend among consumers. After lockdowns early on in the pandemic with little meat available, people are now prepared with freezers for any future scenario.

Cargill encourages retailers to work together with them to provide crucial digital content, product imagery and complimentary items that need to go into their shopping baskets to finish recipes. 

“We think it’s really important to have your digital backbone and all this information readily available to the consumer,” Windish said.

Cargill also continues to effectively utilize labels and information consumers use when making purchasing decisions. The company recently launched a Pure Range Angus program that offers a hormone-free option to appeal to certain customers.

“We are addressing consumer needs in response to the message the marketplace is sending us,” Windish said.

Like other major meat companies, greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reductions continue to be part of a holistic strategy. Cargill previously committed to reducing GHG across its North American beef supply chain by 30% by 2030.

Although beef was a significant driver of the conversation at the Meat Conference, Windish mentioned a new proprietary ground turkey product under the Shady Brook Farms label that Cargill recently launched in Arizona with Kroger and in New Mexico with Walmart. The new product offers a juicier and more desirable product for consumers. 

Being a multinational corporation, Cargill remains in touch with all aspects of protein including seafood. In the last year, Cargill invested a minority stake in Multiexport Foods S.A., a Chilean salmon farming operation that sells products under the Multi X, Arka and Latitude 45 brands.