COMMODITY FOOD MARKET UPDATES: w/o May 23, 2023

CATEGORY	NEAR-TERM MARKET PRICING TREND	SUPPLY vs. DEMAND	DSR MARKET INSIGHTS COMMENTARY
Beef (Commodity)	Stable	Available - Steady	Last Call - Next week is the last opportunity for Packer to ship Beef in time to arrive for Memorial weekend, the peak of seasonal Beef demand. Seasonal middle meat values will begin to ease. Consumer price resistance to Beef is high.
Butter	Stable	Available - Steady	As of May 12, butter manufacturers have plenty of cream available to keep butter churns busy, with some manufacturers operating seven days a week. Inventories reportedly continue to grow in the East. However, a few contacts report production is being limited due to personnel shortages in the West. Retail and food service demand is firm overall, with steady draws on inventories from contract sales. That said, some central stakeholders report demand as lackluster. Loads are available to accommodate current spot market demand. Some stakeholders report production schedules shifting from unsalted butter into salted butter production, while others report more bulk butter moving into the freezer.
Cheese	Stable	Available - Steady	As of May 12, milk remains widely available for cheesemakers throughout the country. Food service ordering is expected to slow down later this spring, as school districts begin their hiatuses. Grilling season is coming on soon, which is expected to benefit some retail focused cheese processors. Some plant managers continue to report scheduled downtime, while others are busily running through notably available milk stores.
Fluid Dairy	Class I - Increasing Class II - Increasing	Class I Available - Steady Class II Short - Strong	May Milk (Class I) and Cultured (Class II) increases are in place. UHT Cream remains demand exceeds supply. Suggest fresh cream as an alternative.
Oils, Shortening, Margarine	Decreasing	Available -Short	Commodity soy and Canola oil pricing continues to decline based on a weaking overall agricultural commodity market. We are seeing some of the lowest prices on commodity Soybean oil that we have seen for many months. The longevity of this pricing trend is unknown at this time. Future prices will highly depend on crop conditions and weather patterns as we move into fall harvest season. Palm oil prices have also seen declines which has also softened bulk margarin prices. It is expected that premium shortening and oil products may also show price decreases in the near term. Supply is adequate to meet demand at this time.
Pork (Commodity)	Increasing	Short - Strong	The looming Memorial Day holiday has butts, spare ribs, and St. Louis Spare rib prices on the rise with increased demand and tightening supplies.
Pork (Value-Added)	Increasing	Available – Steady	The belly market continues to remain soft making bacon a good value. Bacon prices should begin to increase with increased demand. Hot dog prices should rise with baseball season here and grilling season about to begin.
Poultry (Chicken)	Stable	Mixed – Steady	Boneless breast meat prices took a slight increase this week. Wings have remained steady this week. Tenderloins have continued to increase and have tightened in supply. Demand on whole chickens and WOGS remains steady and in tight supply across the board. Demand for the back half of the bird remains steady.
Poultry (Turkey)	Decreasing	Short – High	Fresh Breast meat prices have continued to soften and are there 52-week low. Availability on whole toms and hens is scarce with prices remaining at record highs. Turkey availability is expected to remain tight near term due to continued unknowns of HPAI in 2023.
Produce	Lower: Iceberg & Romaine, Broccoli & Cauliflower, Avocados, Strawberries, Limes Stable: Tomatoes Increasing: Grapes, Lemons, Oranges, Onions & Idaho Potatoes	Improving - Steady: Iceberg, Romaine, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Avocados & Limes Good - Strong: Lemons & Strawberries Short - Strong: Grapes, Onions, Oranges, Idaho Potatoes & Tomatoes	Avocados: MX & CA Nice quality, pricing slightly lower on all sizes. Broccoli & Cauliflower: supply improving, prices lower. Nice quality. Iceberg, Romaine and Hearts: supplies are improving. Prices are easing. Weights are normal. Value-Added lettuce pricing is easing. Grapes: severe shortage through mid-June, due to cold weather. Tomatoes: light FL supplies. MX in seasonal decline. Market steady. Strawberries: good supplies, Market lower following Mother's Day. Oranges (Navels): few small Navels, Valencia being subbed. Mkt higher. Limes: prices continue to decline. Quality is good. Lemons: rains produced larger fruit. Small sizes ltd. Prices climbing. Onions: CA primary growing region. Supply limited. Good quality. Idaho Russet Potatoes: Burbanks shipping. Quality is good. #2 availability increasing. Prices extreme due to a short '22 crop. No relief until Aug.
Bulk Sugar	Increasing	Short - Strong	Bulk sugar demand has been very strong in recent weeks as distributors and operators build inventory in preparation for the summer months. As the sugar beet crop harvest was weak last fall, supply is not ample and may start running short as we move into the new fall harvest season. This has caused pricing to increase so far in 2023 and similar pricing levels are expected through summer.
Shell Eggs	Decreasing	Available - Strong	As of May 17, consumer demand for shell eggs improved over the past week but remains below average. Wholesale prices for cartoned eggs are firm to higher on moderate offerings and demand and moderate to instance heavy supplies. Prices on the loose egg market are steady to higher mostly moderate supplies and offerings. Demand is trading slow to moderate. Wholesale breaking stock prices are steady on light to moderate demand and offerings. Supplies are moderate to heavy, schedules full-time to extended. The preliminary survey of retail outlets indicates a slight slowdown in promotional activity with a decline in the average ad price.
Seafood	Crabmeat Increasing	Crabmeat Short - Steady	Blue swimming crabmeat pricing continues to increase across all size. This is due to limited supply and raw material costs overseas.
Wheat (Flour Based Products)	Mixed	Available – Steady	Pricing on bulk flour has been lower in recent days based on overall commodity grain markets (similar to oils). We have seen no major changes in flour-based finished goods based on such as of yet. The world keeps watching the Ukraine/Russia crisis as that part of the world does control much of total wheat supply. As we move into summer pricing levels may also be determined by the final harvest yield of the current winter wheat crop. Weather has damaged many acres of this years winter wheat crop which may impact availability of High Protein flour products in the future. At this time, supply is adequate to meet demand.
Can Liners	Stable	Available - Steady	Polyethylene and natural gas that are key components in HDPE and LLDPE can liners continued to see some short term upward pressure as resin supply is still trailing due to some resin mills go offline for maintenance.
All UniPro Foodservice DSR Market Insights information is based on domestic US market data only, unless indicated otherwise. The UniPro Foodservice Market DSR Insights update is not a recommendation to buy or sell a commodity. While this update is based on sources we believe to be reliable and accurate, UniPro Foodservice does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented.