The supply and demand problems in the American pork industry are only getting worse. The sector’s giant processors and the farmers who supply them have made production so efficient that they’ve outpaced demand. The WSJ’s Patrick Thomas reports that the industry is divided over how to close the gap, with some arguing that cultivating new overseas markets is the ticket, and exports to Mexico are rising. Others want to repackage pork as an affordable alternative to beef. The pork sector was among the many industries that were buffeted by Covid-era shocks to food supply chains, but the sector faces longer-term concerns. U.S. demand for pork is down 9% over the past 20 years but farmers produce 25% more pork than they did two decades ago. The resulting glut has pinched U.S. pork producers’ profit margins. Major processors like Tyson Foods lost millions of dollars on pork operations last year.

• U.S. agriculture exports fell 10% in 2023 to a three-year low. (Reuters)

E-commerce companies looking for generative AI to improve their sales performance are finding one surprising benefit. Tests involving the shopping assistant have pushed cybersecurity employees at European online merchant Zalando to work more closely than ever with other parts of the business. Chief Information Security Officer Florence Mottay tells the WSJ’s Catherine Stupp that security experts and tech workers at the company teamed up to make sure the assistant could withstand hacking attempts and that it wouldn’t generate biased responses. Collaboration within the company, she says, has never been greater. The experience comes as e-commerce operators are embedding more generative-AI tools in their sales mechanisms. Amazon recently launched a chatbot assistant called Rufus, and Walmart is testing ways to improve searches with generative AI. At Zalando, Mottay says information about shipping terms and conditions were crucial to test the assistant tool for specific kinds of attacks.

California’s toxic Salton Sea has enough lithium to make the U.S. self-sufficient in the mineral, a key component of rechargeable batteries. Now, a race is underway to turn the dying lake into the “Saudi Arabia of lithium." In a video report, the WSJ explores the tech being developed to extract the mineral—and what the effort means for the future of domestic production.

Cocoa prices surged past a 46-year-old record high. (WSJ)

Nikola rejected convicted founder Trevor Milton’s proposal to add five “dissident” nominees to the truck maker’s board. (WSJ)

Permian rivals Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy Resources are finalizing a merger that would create a more-than $50 billion oil-and-gas behemoth. (WSJ)

German chemicals giant BASF plans to sell its shares in two joint ventures in China’s controversial Xinjiang region. (WSJ)

Industrial materials supplier Owens Corning is buying door maker Masonite International in a $3.9 billion deal. (WSJ)

Emissions from ships diverting from the Red Sea are set to increase up to 70% as operators increase speeds to compensate for the longer route. (Financial Times)

Spot shipping rates for Asia-bound liquefied petroleum gas have plummeted to a nearly three-year low, as higher U.S. prices have sapped demand. (Nikkei Asia)

The International Longshoremen’s Association is giving its local unions a mid-May deadline to complete bargaining talks at ports. (Journal of Commerce)

Louis Dreyfus Armatuers plans to outfit three new car carriers with rotor sail technology. (gCaptain)

Flexport has been losing at least $2 million per month on a contract providing air cargo service for Apple. (The Information)

Truckload carrier P.A.M. Transportation pinned a $2.2 million quarterly loss partly on the impact of automotive sector strikes. (Trucking Dive)

U.K. truckers Youngs Transportation and North West Cargo entered administration and cut back staff. (Motor Transport)

Starship Technologies raised $90 million in a funding round backing expansion of its sidewalk delivery robot business. (TechCrunch)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics.