Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 8/18/15

Posted 9 years 103 days ago by

Feeder cattle mixed, with instances of $5 lower and $3 higher; futures higher.
Fed cattle cash trade was inactive; formula trades lower; futures lower; beef prices higher.
Cotton mixed.
Grains and soybeans lower.
Crude oil lower; natural gas lower.
Stock markets higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted mixed prices with instances of $5 lower and $3 higher. Feeder cattle futures settled $0.50 higher to close at $214.40 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash market was inactive yesterday. Wholesale boxed beef values were higher, with Choice Grade settling at $245.52 per cwt and Select Grade at $236.39 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 108,000 head, up 1,000 from last week’s total and on par with last year. Fed cattle futures were $0.55 lower, closing at $147.90 per cwt.

Cotton prices were mixed, with cash down 0.25 cents and futures up 0.82 cents, settling at 61.13 cents per pound and 67.98 cents per pound, respectively. For the reporting period of August 10-16, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that row crops across the northern part of the state continued to progress with producers in areas of the Coastal Bend and Lower Valley beginning to harvest. Ninety-five percent of cotton acreage was in the squaring , up one percentage point from the previous week, but down four percentage points from last year.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were lower, with corn cash and futures prices both losing $0.01, settling at $3.89 per bushel and $3.63 per bushel, respectively. Grain sorghum cash prices lost $0.06 to close at $6.40 per cwt. Soybean futures prices were $0.52 lower, closing at $9.27 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that 98 percent of the Texas corn crop is in the silking stage, with 56% of corn acreage in Good to Excellent condition.

Wheat cash prices lost $0.07 and futures prices lost $0.08, to close at $4.25 per bushel and $4.82 per bushel, respectively. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that preparations continued for winter wheat and small grain seedings across the state.

Stock markets closed higher yesterday, continuing last week’s gains as investors downplayed a weak reading on the manufacturing sector. Crude oil prices dropped $0.63 to close at $41.87 per barrel, reaching a new six-year low over suspicion that the global crude oil glut is set to continue.

From the Weekly Recap:

Austin - (Aug. 18, 2015) For the week ending Aug. 15, 2015, Texas auctions quoted feeder cattle prices mostly steady, with instances of sales ranging from $5 lower to $7 higher per hundredweight (cwt). Texas weekly direct feeder cattle sales were fully steady. Wholesale beef values were higher, with Choice Grade gaining $8.38 to close at $244.72 per cwt and Select Grade gaining $5.30 to close at $235.44 per cwt. Net export sales totaling 12,300 metric tons (MT) for July 31 – Aug. 6 were up noticeably from the previous week. Export shipments of 10,400 MT were down one percent from the previous week. Shipments primarily went to Japan, South Korea and Mexico.

Cotton cash prices were 3.50 cents higher than the previous week and closed at 61.38 cents per pound. October futures prices settled at 67.16 cents per pound, 4.39 cents higher than last week. For the reporting period of Aug. 3 – Aug. 9, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that 94 percent of cotton acreage is in the squaring stage, up five percentage points from the previous week but down three percentage points from last year. Net export cotton sales totaled 96,900 bales. The primary destinations were Vietnam, Mexico and Turkey.

Wheat cash prices lost $0.05 and futures prices lost $0.03 to settle at $4.32 per bushel and $4.90 per bushel, respectively. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that 100 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 421,600 MT, with increased purchases reported for the Philippines, Mexico and China.

Texas corn prices were lower, with cash prices down to $3.90 per bushel and futures prices down to $3.64 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported 97 percent of the Texas corn crop is in the silking stage, with 57 percent of corn acreage in good to excellent condition. Corn export sales were down noticeably from the previous week and the prior four-week average. Export shipments were 16 percent lower than the previous week and 23 percent lower from the previous four-week average.

This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor for Texas showed a worsening of drought conditions for the state, with 39 percent of Texas still in some stage of drought intensity. Additionally, none of the state remains in extreme or exceptional drought. On the national level, drought conditions also worsened, with more than 43 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 8/18/2015

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