Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 7/14/15

Posted 9 years 137 days ago by

Feeder cattle mostly steady to $5 lower; futures slightly lower.
Fed cattle cash trade inactive; formula trades lower; futures lower; beef prices lower.
Cotton mixed.
Grains mixed; soybeans slightly higher.
Crude oil lower; natural gas higher.
Stock markets higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices mostly steady to $5 lower. Feeder cattle futures settled $0.03 lower to close at $211.23 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash market was inactive yesterday. Wholesale boxed beef values were lower, with Choice Grade settling at $236.00 per cwt and Select Grade at $232.70 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 110,000 head, up 6,000 from last week’s total and down 6,000 from last year. Year-to-date harvest is down 5.2%. Fed cattle futures were $0.88 lower, closing at $146.60 per cwt.

Cotton prices were mixed, with cash prices remaining at 60.88 cents per pound and futures up 0.22 cents, settling at 65.73 cents per pound. For the reporting period of July 6 - July 12, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that that cotton planting was complete, with 51 percent of cotton acreage in the squaring stage. This is up 15 percentage points from the previous week, but down five percentage points from last year.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were higher, with corn cash prices gaining $0.06 and futures prices gaining $0.07, settling at $4.62 per bushel and $4.34 per bushel, respectively. Grain sorghum cash prices gained $0.11 to close at $8.05 per cwt. Soybean futures prices were $0.01 higher, closing at $10.45 per bushel. Seventy-four percent of the Texas corn crop is in the silking stage, with 63% of corn acreage in Good to Excellent condition.

Wheat cash prices lost $0.07 to settle at $5.11 per bushel while futures prices remained unchanged at $5.58 per bushel. Ninety-five percent of the Texas wheat crop has been harvested, with 47% of wheat acreage in Good to Excellent condition.

Stock markets closed higher yesterday, reflecting the optimistic atmosphere surrounding the recent Greek bailout agreement. Crude oil prices dropped $0.54 to close at $52.20 per barrel, in response to continuing negotiations on the Iranian nuclear deal.

From the Weekly Recap:
AUSTIN – (July 13, 2015) For the week ending July 11, 2015, Texas auctions quoted feeder cattle prices mostly steady, with instances of sales ranging from $9 lower to $7 higher per hundredweight (cwt). Texas weekly direct feeder cattle sales were mostly steady with some firmness evident. Wholesale beef values were lower, with Choice Grade losing $13.14 to close at $236.98 per cwt and Select Grade losing $14.06 to close at $233.99 per cwt. Net export sales for June 26 – July 2 were up noticeably from the previous week. Export shipments of 11,200 metric tons (MT) were up four percent from the previous week. Shipments primarily went to Japan, Canada and South Korea.

Cotton cash prices were 2.00 cents lower than the previous week and closed at 60.88 cents per pound. July futures prices settled at 65.51 cents per pound, 0.85 cents lower than last week. For the reporting period of June 29 – July 5, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that cotton planting was nearly complete. Ninety-nine percent of cotton acreage has been planted, up two percentage points from the previous week but down one percentage point from last year. Net export cotton sales were down 62 percent from the previous week’s sales. Shipments were down eight percent from the previous week and 10 percent from the average.

Wheat cash prices lost $0.20 to settle at $5.18 per bushel. Futures prices lost $0.18 to settle at $5.58 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that 87 percent of the Texas wheat crop has been harvested, with 47 percent of wheat acreage in good to excellent condition. Net export sales for wheat were 345,900 MT, with increases reported for Indonesia, Mexico and Sri Lanka.

Texas corn prices were higher, with cash prices up to $4.56 per bushel and futures prices up to $4.27 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported 100 percent of the planted Texas corn crop has emerged, with 63 percent of corn acreage in good to excellent condition. Corn export sales were down 10 percent from the previous week and three percent from the prior four-week average. Export shipments were six percent lower than the previous week and four percent lower than the average.

This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor for Texas showed no change in drought conditions for the state, with 4.63 percent of Texas still in some stage of drought intensity. Additionally, none of the state remains in severe, extreme or exceptional drought, which is down just over 25 percentage points from three months ago. On the national level, drought conditions improved slightly, with 36.55 percent of the U.S. experiencing abnormal dryness or some degree of drought, down nearly two percent from last week.

Daily Market Summary Data for 7/14/2015

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