Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 5/05/15

Posted 9 years 207 days ago by

Feeder cattle mostly steady with instances of $4.00 higher; futures higher.
Fed cattle cash trade inactive; formula trades lower; futures higher; beef prices higher.
Cotton mixed.
Grains mixed; soybeans higher.
Crude oil lower; natural gas higher.
Stock markets higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices mostly steady to $4 higher. Feeder cattle futures settled $1.52 higher to close at $215.15 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash market had no reportable trade for Monday. Wholesale boxed beef values were higher, with Choice Grade settling at $255.64 and Select Grade higher at $243.90. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 113,000 head, up 8,000 from the previous week’s total, but down 5,000 from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is down 4.2%. Fed cattle futures were $1.55 higher, closing at $150.73 per cwt.

Cotton prices were mixed, with cash down 0.25 cents, but futures up 0.06 cents. For the reporting period of April 27-May 3, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that cotton planting was delayed in many areas of the state due to wet conditions.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were mixed, with corn cash and futures lower and grain sorghum cash prices rising $0.03 from the previous day’s closing prices. Soybean futures prices were $0.14 higher. Sixty percent of the planted Texas corn crop has emerged, up from 58 percent at the same point last year.

Wheat cash and futures prices were $0.03 and $0.02 higher, respectively. Eighty-two percent of the Texas wheat crop is in the heading stage, with 52% of wheat acreage in Good to Excellent condition.

Stock markets closed higher yesterday as stocks rose for a second-straight session since Thursday’s selloff. Crude oil prices fell $0.220 to close at $58.93 per barrel, continuing Friday’s losses at the hands of the weakening dollar.

From the Weekly Recap:

AUSTIN – (May 4, 2015) For the week ending May 2, 2015, Texas auctions quoted feeder cattle prices mostly steady, with instances of sales ranging from $2 lower to $3 higher per hundredweight (cwt). Texas weekly direct feeder cattle sales were $4 to $7 higher. Wholesale beef values were lower with Choice Grade losing $2.35 to $254.64 per cwt and Select Grade falling $4.40 to $243.22. Net export sales for April 17-23 were down 38 percent from the previous week. Export shipments were down seven percent from the previous week.

Cotton cash prices were 0.75 cents higher than the previous week, closing at 63.38 cents per pound. May futures prices rose 0.35 cents last week to settle at 66.85 cents per pound. The USDA NASS Texas field office noted that cotton planting remained active in areas of the Northern Plains for the reporting period of April 20-26. Net export cotton sales were 14 percent lower than the previous week’s sales. Shipments were down 12 percent from the previous week and 11 percent from the average.

Wheat cash and futures prices lost $0.11 and $0.10, respectively to close at $4.55 per bushel and $4.92 per bushel, respectively. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that 60 percent of the Texas wheat crop is in the heading stage, with 52 percent of the acreage in good to excellent condition. Eighty-five percent of the Texas Winter Wheat crop remains in fair to excellent condition. Net export sales for wheat were up noticeably from last week and the prior four-week average. Shipments were nine percent higher than the previous week and 47 percent higher than the average.

Texas corn prices were lower with cash prices down to $3.87 per bushel and futures prices down to $3.60 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that 49 percent of the planted Texas corn crop has emerged, down from 54 percent at the same point last year. Fifty-six percent of Texas corn acreage has been planted, up five percentage points from last week but down seven percentage points from the same period last year. Corn export sales were down four percent from last week but up 33 percent from the four-week average. Export shipments were 22 percent higher than last week and 35 percent higher than the average.

Areas of the Blacklands and South Central Texas received up to 8 inches of rain, while the Southern High Plains and the Trans Pecos regions reported totals from a quarter to a half inch. Last week’s U.S. Drought Monitor for Texas showed a slight improvement in drought conditions for the state, with just over 41 percent of the state still in some stage of drought intensity, down 3.4 percentage points from the previous week. Additionally, almost 15.9 percent of the state remains in severe, extreme or exceptional drought, down 6.1 percentage points from the previous week and more than eight percentage points from three months ago. On the national level, drought conditions improved with more than 53 percent of the U.S. experiencing abnormal dryness or some degree of drought, down 0.13 percentage points from the previous week.

Additional information on agricultural weather, crop progress and agricultural markets can be found on the TDA Market News page.

Daily Market Summary Data for 5/05/2015

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