May 04 2018

Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary Posted 5 years 353 days ago by Administrator Account

Daily Market Summary for May 4th

 The Daily Market News Report bought to you by The Cattle Range. Please visit http://cattlerange.com/ex-static.htm for more information!

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Slaughter Cattle:

Friday, trade was moderate on moderate demand in Nebraska. Late live purchases traded from 123.00-126.00, bulk at 125.00. Dressed purchases on Thursday in Nebraska traded from 196.00-200.00. Trade was mostly inactive on light to moderate demand in the Southern Plains, Colorado and the Western Cornbelt. Not enough trade in those feeding regions for an adequate market test. On Thursday in the Southern Plains, live purchases traded at 126.00. On Thursday in the Western Cornbelt, live purchases traded mostly from 122.00-128.00 for the week. Dressed purchases on Wednesday traded at 200.00. On Wednesday in Colorado, early live purchases were reported at 117.50. Last week live purchases in Colorado traded from 118.00-126.50.

 

Negotiated Sales:

Confirmed: 24,447    Week Ago: 19,238    Year Ago: 1,685

 

Formula Net - Dressed Steers & Heifers

Head count priced today: 15,400

Weighted avg weight:       815.00

Weighted avg net price:    197.38

 

Alberta Beef Producers Daily Report:

Alberta direct cattle sales Thursday saw active trade develop with dressed sales ranging from 272.00-275.00 delivered. Sales are steady to a couple dollars higher than the previous week. Most of the cattle that traded this week sold locally however there were a couple loads of cattle marketed into the US. Sales to the US were comparable with local sales. Historically strong basis levels and small profits on the cattle being sold right now encouraged producers to market cattle. Sale volumes are shaping up to be rather large this week.

 

Livestock Slaughter under Federal Inspection:

                                  CATTLE      CALVES    HOGS          SHEEP

Friday (est               117,000     2,000      439,000       5,000

Week ago (est)       111,000     2,000      452,000       6,000

Year ago (act)          117,000     2,000      424,000      6,000

Week to date (est)  589,000   10,000   2,292,000    32,000

Last Week (est)       585,000   10,000   2,311,000    37,000

Last Year (act)         571,000     9,000   2,146,000     33,000

 

Saturday (est            58,000        0               40,000       2,000

Week ago (est)         38,000        0               52,000         0

Year ago (act)           45,000        0             122,000       1,000

Week to date (est) 647,000   10,000    2,332,000     34,000

Last Week (est)      623,000    10,000    2,363,000     37,000

Last Year* (act)      615,000      9,000    2,268,000     33,000

2018 YTD             10,878,00  182,000  42,710,000   683,000

2017 *YTD           10,627,00  177,000  41,524,000   672,000

Percent change       2.4%        3.0%          2.9%           1.6%

 

Boxed Beef: 

Boxed beef cutout values firm on moderate to fairly good demand and moderate to heavy offerings. Select and Choice rib and round cuts steady while loin cuts steady to firm. Choice chuck cuts weak while Select firm. Beef trimmings generally steady on light demand and light to moderate offerings.

Cutout Values...            Choice       Select

Current Cutout Values:  228.30       209.49

Change from prior day:    +0.74         +0.32

Choice/Select spread:      18.81

 

Futures Summary: 

Live cattle futures closed the Friday session with 15 to 60 cent losses in most contracts. Feeder cattle futures were down 12.5 to 40 cents on Friday. The CME feeder cattle index was down 21 cents on May 3 at $137.90. Wholesale boxed beef values were higher on Friday afternoon. Choice boxes were up 74 cents at $228.30, with Select boxes 32 cents higher at $209.49. Estimated weekly FI cattle slaughter through Saturday is at 647,000 head, a 14,000 head jump from last week and 32,000 larger than the same week in 2017. Cash trade was reported at $126 in the South, with a few reports of $128 and 200 in the North this week. US beef exports during March set a monthly record of 260.628 million pounds according to Census data. That was 15.4% larger than February and 11.4% above last year.

 

CME Feeder Cattle Index: 137.90… (0.21)

June Live Cattle Futures: 106.05… (0.47)

August Live Cattle Futures: 105.07… (0.45)

October Live Cattle Futures: 108.45… (0.52)

May Feeder Cattle Futures: 140.40… (0.40)

August Feeder Cattle Futures: 146.32… (0.25)

September Feeder Cattle Futures: 146.77… (0.28)

June Hog Futures: 73.52… +0.02

 

National Grain Market Summary: 

Compared to last week, cash bids for wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans were higher.  USDA said last week's sales and shipments of corn totaled 40.2 million bushels (mb) and 58.0 mb respectively, a neutral showing for the week that has total corn shipments down 17% in 2017-18 from a year ago.  Prices continue to find support from dry weather in Brazil where corn is in pollination and the seven-day forecast still looks mostly dry.  Here in the U.S., most of the Corn Belt has favorable soil moisture as temperatures finally get warm enough for planting to pick up.  With this year's drought in Argentina putting attention on soybean meal, July soybean oil has been the weak sister in the soy complex.  Spot bean oil prices remain near their lowest level in over a year, but are contributing to a high crush margin, which helps domestic soybean demand.  USDA said last week's export sales and shipments of soybeans totaled 15.3 mb and 25.4 mb respectively, a neutral-to-bearish performance that kept total soybean shipments down 13% in 2017-18 from a year ago.  USDA said last week's export sales and shipments of wheat totaled 8.6 mb and 10.4 mb respectively, another bearish showing that put total wheat shipments down 12% in 2017-18 from a year ago.  For the week, wheat was 18 1/4 cents to 57 cents higher.   Corn was 10 1/4 to 16 cents higher.  Sorghum was 6 to 40 cents higher.  Soybeans were 15 1/4 to 20 1/4 cents higher.

 

July Corn Futures: 4.0625… (0.0175)

July Soybean Futures: 10.3675… (0.1650)

July Wheat Futures: 5.2625… (0.1175)

Kansas City Corn: 3.92… (0.02)

Kansas City Soybeans: 10.12… (0.16)

Kansas City Wheat: 5.37… (0.12)

 

Nearby Crude Oil Futures Contract: 69.72… +1.29

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,262.51… +332.26

NASDAQ: 7,209.62… +121.47

U.S. Dollar Index: 92.61… +0.18

 

National Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary

RECEIPTS:       Auctions     Direct    Video/Internet     Total

This Week      250,300     65,000          61,000           376,300

This Week      234,500     58,100            3,600           296,200

Last Year        184,500     69,600            3,300           257,400        

Compared to last week, steers and heifers traded from 2.00 higher to 2.00 lower nationwide.  Ranchers have a very vested interest in the cattle trade every week as they try to gauge when to sell their harvest (calf crop) for the year.  It may not seem much, however a 10.00 swing in prices can add up in a hurry; $60 or $70 per head on a 100 head cow herd is a significant amount.  Feeder cattle buyers have purchased replacement feedlot cattle on either side of steady this week as the market is looking for direction from any type of news that could hit the airwaves. 

Auction trading volume on this report just barely topped 250K this week.  It is only the second occurrence that large since early February, indicating cattle producers are willing to market feeders at these prices. This week, packers were willing to take on some inventory and bought fed cattle on Thursday morning in the Southern Plains at 126.00, 2.00 higher than last week.  Weekly negotiated cash trading volume in Kansas topped 30,000 head for the second week in a row; the last time that occurred was January 2016.  In TX/OK/NM, the rolling three week average of negotiated trading volume surpassed 10,000 head for only the second time in a year.

Feedlot managers have been aggressive in their marketing plans in the past few weeks with the sharp disconnect between cash and summer futures prices.   On Thursday CME cattle futures posted a rally with triple-digit gains but June Live Cattle contracts show a gap of near 20.00 less than cash; resisting any sign of strength with traders just waiting for the other shoe to drop.  For the week, the front four Live Cattle contracts closed around 1.00 lower than last Friday's close, while the front four Feeder Cattle contracts were 1.13 to 1.95 lower for the week.  In addition, August to November Feeders all closed the week within 1.10 of each other.

Boxed-beef cut-out values have continued to show strength and climb higher even though the Choice-Select spread neared 20.00 on Monday of this week.  Choice Boxed beef closed the week 6.56 higher than last Friday at 228.30, while the Select cutout was 5.17 higher at 209.49.  The Choice-Select spread on Friday is 18.81, the largest since mid-December.  Estimated Slaughter under Federal Inspection was reported at 647,000 for the week, the largest since late September 2017.  These large harvest numbers have not hindered the packers from asking the retailers higher prices for product, with the middle meats leading the price charge ahead of Mother's Day, Memorial Day and Father's Day.  On Monday the Restaurant Performance Index was released with positive news for the month of March with a monthly value at 101.8 up 0.7 from last month.  The RPI increase was driven by improvements in sales and customer traffic. Auction volume this week included 55 percent weighing over 600 lbs and 44 percent heifers.