Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 8/31/15

Posted 9 years 90 days ago by

Feeder cattle $3 to $10 lower; futures lower.
Fed cattle cash trade was inactive; formula trades lower; futures higher; beef prices lower.
Cotton cash steady; futures lower.
Grains and soybeans mixed.
Crude oil higher; natural gas higher.
Stock markets higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices $3 to $10 lower. Feeder cattle futures closed $0.15 lower at $209.85 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was active on Friday. Wholesale boxed beef values were lower, with Choice grade closing $0.99 lower at $243.22 per cwt and Select grade closing $0.17 lower at $232.95 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 540,000 head, up 6,000 from the previous week, and down 38,000 from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is down 6.6%. Fed cattle futures closed $1.88 higher at $146.53 per cwt.

Cotton cash prices were unchanged at the end of the week, remaining at 59.88 cents per pound. Futures settled 0.08 cents lower at 63.75 cents per pound.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were mixed. Corn cash prices gained $0.12, closing at $3.96 per bushel. Corn futures prices lost $0.01 to close at $3.63 per bushel. Grain sorghum prices steady remaining at $6.31 per cwt. Soybean futures prices closed $0.07 higher, settling at $8.93 per bushel.

Wheat cash prices closed $0.06 lower to settle at $4.01, futures prices closed $0.07 lower to settle at $4.58 per bushel.

Stock markets were slightly higher at the close of last week, trading for the week was calm and steady as the most volatile period in years came to an end. However, there remains uncertainty over the state of the Chinese economy and the expected interest rate increase by the Federal reserve, both of these issues have put global markets in a fragile state. Crude oil prices closed $2.66 higher at $45.22 per barrel. This increase was brought on by news that some Nigerian exports would be stopped, along with speculation that the monthly U.S. Government report will show a decline in domestic crude production.

Daily Market Summary Data for 8/31/2015

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Agri-Pulse:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2015 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., held a teleconference Friday afternoon from Oregon, where wildfires are raging, to stress the necessity of reforming the wildfire suppression budget.

Vilsack told reporters that for the first time in U.S. Forest Service (USFS) history, more than half - 52 percent - of the agency's budget will be put toward fighting fires. By comparison, in 1995, fire suppression only made up 19 percent of the budget. Every week, the agency is doling out $150 million to fight the flames, Vilsack said from Portland, and the severity and costs of the fires this season are only expected to worsen.

The extreme nature of this year's fire season is due to “a terrible trifecta” Wyden said, of “very hot temperatures, very serious drought and massive fuels built-up on the forest floors.”

“My concern is that for much of the West, this could be the new norm,” Wyden continued. “What we need to do is have a comprehensive set of reforms put in place to deal with it, and it really starts with the legislation to stop 'fire borrowing.'”

“Fire borrowing” happens when USFS or the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have to dip into the budgets of other programs to suppress fires. Ironically, the programs that the agencies “fire borrow” from - namely forest restoration and hazardous fuels reduction programs - are often crucial to preventing fires in the first place.

The $1.3 billion allocated by Congress to fight wildfires this year has already been spent and the fire borrowing has begun, Vilsack said. About 30 percent of the fire budget this year was spent on fighting the fires, but those dollars could have been better spent on fire prevention initiatives, Vilsack argued.

Vilsack and Wyden said the way to fix the fire budget process is to designate the top 1 to 2 percent of the most destructive and costly fires as “catastrophic.” That way, USFS is able to tap into natural disaster funding to pay for fire suppression instead of having to drain preventative programming.

The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (S 235) - which has been introduced several times by Wyden and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho - would allow USDA and BLM to draw from emergency or disaster accounts whenever the costs of fighting wildfires exceeds 70 percent of the 10-year average cost for wildfire suppression.

Wyden said opponents of the bill say it would allow for “a back-door spending spigot,” but “that argument just isn't going to fly… the budget analysis (of the bill) says it's not true.”

More than 250 forestry, trade, wildlife and other organizations have come out in support of the legislation, Wyden added, and now all Western senators "are on the same page…working with a conservative Republican Budget (Committee) chairman,” and saying in unison “'This has to get fixed'” in September.

Vilsack said the private sector is “stepping up” their lobbying efforts to get the bill passed because they understand just how big of an economic driver National Forests are in rural America for recreation and forest industries. The have also have felt the loss of seven of “our bravest and best” firefighters since March 30, putting “an even more intense spotlight on the need for action,” Vilsack said.

A memorial service to honor fallen firefighters Richard Wheeler, Andrew Zajac and Tom Zbyszewski will be held Aug. 30 in Wenatchee, Washington. The funeral procession will begin near the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest where the Twisp River Fire took their lives on Aug. 19.