Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 8/04/15

Posted 9 years 116 days ago by

Feeder cattle steady to $10 lower, with instances of $2 to $5 higher; futures higher.
Fed cattle cash trade inactive; formula trades lower; futures higher; beef prices mixed.
Cotton higher.
Grains and soybeans lower.
Crude oil lower; natural gas higher.
Stock markets lower.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices steady to $10 lower, with instances of $2 to $5 higher. Feeder cattle futures settled $3.12 higher to close at $213.85 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was inactive yesterday. Wholesale boxed beef values were mixed, with Choice Grade settling at $233.99 per cwt and Select Grade at $228.83 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 107,000 head, up 2,000 from last week’s total, but down 3,000 from this time last year. Year-to-date harvest is down 2.7%. Fed cattle futures gained $2.30 to settle at $148.00 per cwt.

Cotton prices were higher, with cash prices gaining 1.25 cents to settle at 60.63 cents per pound, and futures prices gaining 1.35 cents to settle at 65.36 cents per pound. For the reporting period of July 27 – August 2, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that 89 percent of cotton acreage was in the squaring stage. This is up 10 percentage points from the previous week, but down three percentage points from last year.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were lower, with corn cash prices losing $0.03 and futures prices losing $0.04, settling at $3.93 per bushel and $3.67 per bushel, respectively. Grain sorghum cash prices lost $0.14 to close at $6.67 per cwt. Soybean futures prices were $0.03 lower, closing at $9.78 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that 91 percent of the Texas corn crop is in the silking stage, with 57% of corn acreage in Good to Excellent condition. Preparations for corn harvest have started in the Blacklands, while harvest continued to progress in South Central Texas and South East Texas.

Wheat cash and futures prices both lost $0.03 to settle at $4.35 per bushel and $4.89 per bushel, respectively. The USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that 100 percent of the Texas wheat crop has been harvested, with 47% of wheat acreage in Good to Excellent condition. Field preparations are underway for the 2016 wheat crop.

Stock markets closed lower yesterday and continued to reflect declines in oil prices. Crude oil prices dropped $1.95 to close at $45.17 per barrel.

From the Weekly Recap:

AUSTIN – (August 3, 2015) For the week ending August 1, 2015, Texas auctions quoted feeder cattle prices mostly steady, with instances of sales ranging from $10 lower to $4 higher per hundredweight (cwt). Texas weekly direct feeder cattle sales were $2 to $10 lower following the weakness that began at the end of last week. Wholesale beef values were higher, with Choice Grade gaining $2.55 to close at $233.25 per cwt and Select Grade gaining $1.06 to close at $229.29 per cwt. Net export sales totaling 6,200 metric tons (MT) for July 17 – July 23 were down 39 percent from the previous week. Export shipments of 11,700 MT were down eight percent from the previous week. Shipments primarily went to Japan, South Korea and Mexico.

Cotton cash prices were 2.00 cents lower than the previous week and closed at 59.38 cents per pound. October futures prices settled at 64.01 cents per pound, 1.83 cents lower than last week. For the reporting period of July 20 – July 26, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that 79 percent of cotton acreage is in the squaring stage, up 11 percentage points from the previous week but down three percentage points from last year. Net export cotton sales were down 75 percent from the previous week’s sales. Shipments were down three percent from the previous week and down 10 percent from the average.

Wheat cash prices lost $0.14 and futures prices lost $0.15 to settle at $4.38 and $4.92 per bushel, respectively. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that 99 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 699,400 MT, with increases reported for Mexico, Taiwan and Italy.

Texas corn prices were lower, with cash prices down to $3.96 per bushel and futures prices down to $3.71 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported 84 percent of the Texas corn crop is in the silking stage, with 63 percent of corn acreage in good to excellent condition. Corn export sales were up 63 percent from the previous week but down 13 percent from the prior four-week average. Export shipments were seven percent lower than the previous week but unchanged from the average.

This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor for Texas showed a worsening of drought conditions for the state, with 13.55 percent of Texas still in some stage of drought intensity. Additionally, none of the state remains in severe, extreme or exceptional drought. On the national level, drought conditions also worsened, with 38.89 percent of the U.S. experiencing abnormal dryness or some degree of drought.

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

Daily Market Summary Data for 8/04/2015

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