Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 10/12/16

Posted 8 years 46 days ago by

Feeder cattle auction reported prices $3 to $10 lower; Futures lower.

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

Cotton higher.

Grains and soybeans lower.

Milk futures higher.

Crude oil lower; Natural gas lower.

Stock markets steady.

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices $3 to $10 lower. October Feeder cattle futures were $2.12 lower, closing at $122.00 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was inactive today. October Fed cattle futures were $0.75 lower, closing at $96.75 per cwt. Wholesale boxed beef values were lower, with Choice grade losing $1.68 to close at $181.50 and Select grade losing $0.57 to close at $172.18. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 344,000 head up 7,000 from last week’s total, and 9,000 from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is up 2.6%.

Cotton prices were higher today with cash prices gaining 1.85 cents to close at 67.72 cents per pound and October futures gaining 1.83 cents to close at 68.97 cents per pound.

Corn prices were lower with cash prices losing $0.08 to close at $3.33 per bushel and December futures losing $0.09 to close at $3.37 per bushel. Grain Sorghum cash prices were lower, losing $0.17 to close at $4.90 per cwt.

Wheat prices were lower with cash and December futures both losing $0.07 to close at $2.89 per bushel and $3.99 per bushel, respectively.

Milk prices were higher with October Class III futures gaining $0.04 to close at $14.74 per cwt.

Stock markets closed little changed, as minutes from the Federal Reserve meetings offered little clues about the possibility of increasing short-term interest rates. November Crude oil futures were $0.61 lower, closing at $50.18 per barrel. Oil prices fell after concerns rose about the world’s major oil exporters being able to come to an agreement on production cuts.

Daily Market News Summary Data 10/12/16

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From Agri-Pulse:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2016 - U.S. and EU negotiators say they spent a good chunk of time during Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks this week seeking agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues, some of which are keeping some U.S. beef, pork and poultry out of Europe.

“We spent about three days on sanitary and phytosanitary measures,” Dan Mullaney, the chief U.S. negotiator, told reporters today in a teleconference during the 15^th round of T-TIP talks in New York.

Ignacio Garcia-Bercero, chief EU negotiator, agreed, saying a lot of time was spent on “regulatory coherence” on animal and plant SPS issues.

Mullaney also said the two sides also devoted more than a day on agriculture tariffs with the aim of eliminating as many as possible.

Reducing tariffs will be key to a successful treaty, David Salmonsen, a senior director for congressional relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in a recent interview, but he said non-tariff barriers must be removed first.

SPS issues like Europe's effective ban on U.S. poultry are key to getting a good T-TIP deal for American agriculture, Salmonsen said. The EU has virtually halted U.S. chicken imports because European countries ban the type of antimicrobial rinses used by most U.S. producers to prevent salmonella contamination.

Other non-tariff barriers to U.S. agriculture include an EU prohibition on ractopamine, a drug commonly used by U.S. ranchers to promote the production of lean meat, and the EU ban on beef raised with artificial growth hormones.

Mullaney and Garcia-Bercero also said they have been trying to iron out their differences on Europe's demands for Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs). Mullaney said negotiators will be spending much of today working on PGIs.

PGIs are scorned by much of the U.S. agricultural sector. Dairy producers are particularly upset over European attempts to protect what many in the U.S. consider common names for food products like Asiago cheese.

There is growing doubt that the two sides will be able to complete T-TIP during the last months of the Obama administration, but the chief negotiators said they won't let up on their efforts.

“Looking ahead, we plan to keep working to make progress in the coming months to deliver real, near-term benefits to our people,” Mullaney said in a statement released today. “Our EU colleagues share that goal. In the remaining time of the current U.S. administration, there is still much that we can accomplish together.”