Business news in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The rise in inventories spread out across a broad swath of goods combined with the solid increase in sales is quite encouraging.”

Thomas Simons, Jefferies LLC economist Article, 1D

Tyson to expand animal-welfare audits

Tyson Foods Inc. said Tuesday that it is running pilot audits of its beef and poultry suppliers as part of plans to expand its FarmCheck program beyond the company’s hog suppliers.

Worth Sparkman, a spokesman for the Springdale based meat company, said in an email that Tyson is on track to integrate the FarmCheck program for both beef and chicken suppliers by January.

The company launched FarmCheck in October 2012, saying it would audit the operations of its hog suppliers to ensure that animals are raised in a humane environment.

Tyson said consumers want assurance that the food they buy is produced in a responsible manner.

As part of the program, third-party auditors are checking for access to food and water, “proper” human-animal interaction, and worker training. In May, Tyson said it had formed an independent farm-animal well-being advisory panel to serve as advisers for the FarmCheck program.

In November, Tyson ended its contract with West Coast Farms LLC in Oklahoma after a video surfaced of purported animal abuse and neglect.

AT&T announces plan to hire 50 in state

AT&T Inc. is looking to hire more than 50 people to fill jobs in Arkansas, the telecommunications company said Tuesday.

About 30 positions will be new jobs; the rest will fill vacancies, spokesman Anita Smith said.

The positions include work at retail stores, U-verse installation technicians and sales consultants, according to the news release. The positions are being filled immediately.

“AT&T continues to expand its customer base in Arkansas and invest in our network to ensure we are providing the high level of service customers have come to expect,” Ed Drilling, the company’s president in Arkansas, said in a statement. “As part of our commitment to this level of customer service and to support our growth in Arkansas, we are pleased to have the opportunity to welcome more than 50 Arkansas residents to the AT&T family.”

AT&T employs almost 2,400 people in the state, according to the news release.

USDA forecasts smaller orange crop

The orange crop in Florida, the world’s second-largest citrus producer, will be 3.2 percent smaller than forecast last month, the government said Tuesday.

In the 12 months that started Oct. 1, the state’s output will be 121 million boxes, compared with 125 million projected in November, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

On Monday, orange juice futures entered a bull market because of the dry conditions and citrus greening, a disease that starves trees of nutrients, causing fruit to shrink and drop prematurely. The price climbed 2.3 percent to $1.412 a pound, up 20 percent from $1.175 on Oct. 22.

Nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey forecast output at 125 million boxes on average, unchanged from a month earlier. Last season, Florida’s crop was 133.6 million boxes.

Through Monday, futures advanced 20 percent this year.

Yields for frozen concentrated orange juice will average 1.61 gallons per box, up from 1.59 gallons a year earlier, the USDA said Tuesday.

Global wheat-reserve prediction rises

World reserves before next year’s harvest will be larger than the government forecast in November as farmers harvested more crops than a year earlier. U.S. inventories next year are projected to be higher than last month’s forecast.

Global inventories before the start of the Northern Hemisphere harvests in 2014 will be 201.48 million tons as Canadian and Australian growers collect more than a year earlier, compared with 178.48 million predicted in November, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday in a monthly report. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting 179.98 million, on average.

World output in the 12 months that began June 1 will total 711.42 million tons, compared with the 706.38 million tons forecast last month, the USDA said.

U.S. reserves on May 31 will be 575 million bushels, compared with 565 million (15.37 million tons) forecast in November, the USDA said. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting 547 million bushels, on average.

The USDA forecast prices at the farm will average $6.65 to $7.15 a bushel in the 12 months that began June 1, compared with the $6.70 to $7.30 estimated a month earlier.

Wheat futures for March delivery fell 0.1 percent to $6.505 a bushel Monday on the Chicago Board of Trade, leaving the price down 16 percent this year.

  • Bloomberg News

Business, Pages 26 on 12/11/2013

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