Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 03/21/16

Posted 8 years 251 days ago by

Feeder cattle auctions reported prices steady to $5 higher; Futures lower.

Fed cattle cash trade inactive; Formula trades lower; Futures lower; Beef prices lower.

Cotton futures higher.

Grains and soybeans higher.

Milk futures steady.

Crude oil higher; Natural gas lower.

Stock markets higher.

Texas feeder cattle auctions reported prices steady to $5 higher. Feeder cattle futures were $0.85 lower, closing at $162.37 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was inactive today. Whole sale boxed beef values were lower with choice grade losing $2.01 to close at $229.80 per cwt and select grade losing $1.66 to close at $220.67 per cwt. Fed cattle futures were $1.47 lower, closing at $138.35 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 109,000 head down 1,000 from last week and up 4,000 from last year’s total.

Cotton prices were mixed with cash prices remaining at 55.37 cents per pound. May futures were higher gaining 1.01 to close at 58.17 cents per pound.

Corn prices were higher with cash and futures prices both gaining $0.03 to close at $3.72 and $3.70 per bushel, respectively. Grain Sorghum cash prices were higher, gaining $0.04 to close at $5.34 per cwt.

Wheat prices were higher with cash prices gaining $0.04 to close at $3.99 per bushel and May Wheat futures gaining $0.05, to close at $4.75 per bushel.

Milk prices were steady with Class III Milk futures remaining at $13.83 per cwt.

Stock markets were slightly higher today, as recent volatility has begun to subside. Crude oil prices were higher gaining $0.47 to close at $39.91 per barrel.

Daily Market Summary Data 03/21/16

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

From Agri-Pulse:

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2016 - President Obama is seeking to cement his opening of U.S.-Cuba relations with an historic trip to the island nation, a long-sought new market for American farmers.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who visited Cuba last November, is one of several cabinet officials who joined Obama on his trip, the first by a U.S. president to Cuba in nearly 90 years. Vilsack is scheduled to participate in portions of the president's schedule on Monday and to meet separately with the Cuban agriculture minister, Gustavo Rodríguez Rollero.

Vilsack planned to use the trip to discuss opportunities for the United States and Cuba to collaborate on agriculture and to better understand how climate change is affecting agricultural production on the island.

Obama is scheduled to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro on Monday and to attend a series of sessions designed to promote the achievements of Cuban entrepreneurs. The sessions are to include American business leaders and Cuban Americans and representatives of both governments. On Tuesday, Obama will make a speech to the Cuban people. “We very much want to make the process of normalization irreversible,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser. Obama wants to “speak directly to the Cuban people about what the president's vision for normalization is, and to continue to create openings for greater engagement between the American and Cuban people,” Rhodes said.

Cuba's purchases of U.S. farm products have continued to fall over the past year despite Oama's steps to normalize relations, but Vilsack told reporters last week White House has some ideas in the works for reversing the trend. “I'd like to say the White House is saving the best for last,” Vilsack said.

U.S. rules require that sales of agricultural products to Cuba be made in cash, often with the aid of third-party financing and that puts the U.S. at a disadvantage to other nations like Brazil and Vietnam that offer credit.

Because of the restrictions, Cuba has stopped buying U.S. rice, dried milk, soybean oil, and other commodities and has instead started procuring rice from Vietnam and Brazil, wheat from the European Union and dried milk from New Zealand, according to USDA's Economic Research Service.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, told Agri-Pulse that he doesn't think the financial restrictions should ever have been imposed. “If a producer here in the United States wants to take the commercial risk of selling their products on credit, that should be something they get to do,” Conaway said.

The U.S. House is in action through Wednesday before breaking for its Easter recess. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will be on Capitol Hill all day Tuesday for back-to-back appearances before the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Senate broke for its recess last Thursday without resolving the dispute over biotech labeling. A bill to preempt state GMO labeling laws stalled on Wednesday when supporters failed to get the 60 votes necessary to advance the measure.

With the bill blocked at least temporarily General Mills Inc. announced on Friday that it would start labeling its products in compliance with requirements to take effect in Vermont on July 1. Supporters of preemption hope the General Mills announcement will help spur the Senate to act after the recess. “It is nothing short of irresponsible for the Senate to continue to allow this issue to fester, leaving food companies and farmers an uncertain fate,” according to a statement from the industry-backed Coalition for Safe Affordable Food.

The Senate recess ends April 4. The House will be out until April 12.

Here's a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere:

Monday, March 21

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack accompanies President Obama on Cuba visit.

8:30 a.m. FDA hosts public meeting to discuss implementation of prevention-oriented import regulations outlined in the Food Safety and Modernization Act. All day. Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building, College Park, Maryland.

2 p.m. - Stop Hunger Now Meal-Packing Event, hosted by House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway, ranking member Collin Peterson and Kraft Heinz, Speaker's Dining Room, H-122

Tuesday, March 22

9 a.m. - House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, B-308 Rayburn.

2 p.m. - House Energy and Commerce hearing on EPA's fiscal 2017 budget, with McCarthy, 2123 Rayburn.

2:30 p.m. - House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing on fundamental tax reform proposals, 1100 Longworth.

Wednesday, March 23

9:30 a.m. - House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee hearing on EPA's regional haze program, 2318 Rayburn.

Thursday, March 24

8:30 a.m. - USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.

Friday, March 25

9 a.m. - USDA releases monthly Food Price Outlook.