Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 4/24/15

Posted 9 years 218 days ago by

Feeder cattle lower; futures higher.
Fed cattle cash trade on par with the previous day; formula trades lower; futures higher; beef prices mixed.
Cotton higher.
Grains and soybeans mixed.
Crude oil higher; natural gas higher.
Stock markets lower.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices $3 to $5 lower. Feeder cattle futures were higher, more than making up for the previous day’s losses. The Texas fed cattle cash trade was on par with the previous day. Wholesale boxed beef values were mixed, with Choice grade $0.05 lower and Select grade $1.52 higher. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 435,000 head, up 6,000 from the previous week’s total, but down 18,000 from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is down 4%. Fed cattle futures were $3.00 higher, closing at $159. 30 per hundredweight (cwt). Net export sales for April 10-16 totaling 20,000 metric tons (MT), a marketing-year high, were up 79 percent from the previous week, with Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong as the top buyers. Export shipments of 11,600 MT, down nine percent from last week, went primarily to Japan, Mexico, and South Korea.

Cotton cash and futures prices were 2.50 cents and 2.10 cents higher, respectively. Export cotton sales were 144,900 bales, noticeably higher than last week with increased purchases for Vietnam, China, and Colombia. Shipments of 324,200 bales were up 61 percent from the previous week and four percent from the prior four-week average. The primary destinations were China, Vietnam, and Turkey.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were lower, with corn cash and futures each closing $0.02 lower from the previous day. Corn export sales were 867,900 MT for the week, up 48% from the previous week and 68% from the previous 4-week average. Japan, Mexico, and Colombia had increased purchases. Export shipments of 1,041,100 MT went mainly to Japan, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. The week’s shipments were 20% higher than the previous week’s and 10 percent higher than the average. Soybean futures prices were $0.017higher. Soybean export sales were 102,100 MT. China, Mexico, and Japan had increased purchases. Export Shipments of 155,900 MT were down 72 percent from the previous week and 75 percent from the prior four-week average. The primary destinations were Mexico, China, and Indonesia.

Wheat prices closed higher, with cash prices settling at $4.79 per bushel and futures prices closing at $5.17 per bushel. Net export sales for wheat were 397,500 MT, up noticeably from the previous week and the prior 4-week average. Increased sales were reported for South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. Shipments were 557,300 MT, 45 percent higher than the previous week and 40% higher than the weekly average. The top destinations were Mexico, Japan, and Thailand.

Stock markets were higher at close yesterday, with the NASDAQ Composite Index closing almost eight points above its record high of 5048.62 (set on March 10, 2000). Crude oil prices were higher, posting a $1.580 gain. The closing price of $57.74 per barrel is a record high for 2015.

Daily Market Summary Data for 4/24/2015

If you are interested in receiving this daily report, please subscribe here.