Cargill Points to Strong Beef Demand in Otherwise Dim Earnings

(Bloomberg) -- Consumers in the U.S. and overseas bought up plenty of beef and -added egg products from Cargill Inc., helping prop up the Minneapolis-based company’s quarterly earnings.

Chief Executive Officer Dave MacLennan, who has increased the firm’s focus on protein to make it less reliant on trading, said in a statement Thursday that strong demand for beef and eggs combined with consumer insights “helped customers win in local markets.”

Reporting its steepest profit decline since 2015 amid weather and trade disruptions, Cargill said its North American protein business was the biggest contributor to earnings and that company is investing in the growing demand. It added to poultry facilities and specialty animal feeds operations in China and also put money into a lab-grown meat company, Aleph Farms.

Still, the animal nutrition and protein unit’s performance was slightly below last year’s results “as spring flooding in the U.S. Midwest delayed cattle shipments and cool weather dampened the start of the outdoor grilling season,” according to the statement.

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