The protein market was quiet today, fairly typical for a Friday. The action at the CME is likely to push buyers to the sidelines to start the week, next week. Soybean meal finished the day down $16.60 for the March contract, settling at $421.60. On a protein basis, both ruminant and porcine meat and bone meal (MBM) remain well valued versus soybean meal, but in the context of recent history, values are pushing beyond the prior year’s relationships. Through the first three weeks of the month, the ruminant MBM market FOB Texas Panhandle has a relative price to soybean meal of 67.6 percent, just above the prior three year average of 65.4 percent. That spread alone isn’t enough to arrest price increases, but today’s drop on bean meal futures adds negative sentiment to the market and lends more leverage to the buyers, especially as February formulations are in the picture. If the downturn continues in the soybean meal…