Source: Richard Lobb, MEATINGPLACE, 10/3/13

Companies in the protein industry will have access to “overall less information” on markets and pricing and will have to rely more on private sources because of the federal government shutdown, according to Bill Lovette, president and chief executive officer of Pilgrim’s.

“There are other sources of information, and we will use those, but markets work better with more information,” Lovette said on the sidelines of the National Chicken Council annual conference here.

“There will be overall less information for companies to use,” he said. Lovette is the outgoing chairman of NCC.

Reports that have been interrupted include slaughter and price reports for poultry, pork and beef. It is also looking increasingly like the World Agricultural Supply and Demand (WASDE) reports on crop conditions and forecasts due to Oct. 11 will be affected.  The now one-page USDA website indicated that statistical reports widely followed in the industry would not return immediately after the shutdown ends.

Pork pricing
Smithfield/Farmland Fresh Meat Groups sent a letter to customers stating their intent to use Monday’s closing prices (the last ones published prior to the shutdown) to value pork sales for the remainder of this week, according to the Daily Livestock Report, published by Steve Meyer and Len Steiner Inc.
Should the furloughs stretch into next week, Smithfield/Farmland told customers that they would then negotiate base price to the best of their ability to determine “fair market values.”

E-Verify
The government’s E-Verify program to check on eligibility of employees to work in this country has also gone down. However, the Department of Homeland Security has made clear that the “three day rule” is being suspended, according to the American Meat Institute, which has posted a list of meat industry services that are and are not currently operating.

 
Label approval
Among the other delayed services will be USDA approval for certain product labels for which meat and poultry packers and processors must secure government approval. According to AMI, label application submissions continue to be sent to USDA headquarters during the shutdown and a backlog is expected when the government reopens. AMI expects this to create a major backlog for new product introductions.

All quiet
Broiler industry leaders were meeting at a Washington hotel today two blocks away from the quiet and darkened USDA headquarters. A scheduled speech by Michael T. Scuse, USDA under secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services, was canceled.

A few blocks away, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative was operating with one-quarter of its staff, imperiling progress on trade negotiations that were expected to benefit U.S. poultry, according to Allen Johnson, former USTR chief agricultural negotiator, who spoke to the NCC meeting.  He said USTR was a “lean operation” even before the shutdown.

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