May 11 2018

Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary Posted 6 years 201 days ago by Administrator Account

Daily Market Summary for May 11th

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Slaughter Cattle:

Thus far for Friday in all major feeding regions trading has been limited on light demand. Not enough trades in any price range for a full market trend. Last week in the Southern Plains the bulk of live cash trades were at 126.00. For the prior week in Nebraska live cash trades were mostly from 123.00-126.00 and dressed trades ranged from 188.50-200.00. In Colorado live cash trades ranged from 117.50-125.00. For the previous week in the Western Cornbelt live cash trades ranged from 122.00-128.00 and dressed trades ranged mostly from 195.00-196.00.

Update: After 6:00 PM on Friday, 5,000+ head of slaughter steers & heifers traded at $122.00 per cwt., $4.00 lower than last week.

 

Negotiated Sales:

Confirmed: 15,419    Week Ago: 24,447    Year Ago: 4,138

 

Formula Net - Dressed Steers & Heifers

Head count priced today: 14,400

Weighted avg weight:       825.00

Weighted avg net price:    199.43

 

Alberta Beef Producers Daily Report:

Alberta direct cattle sales Thursday with dressed sales ranging from 262.00-266.00 delivered. The cattle that traded on Thursday were negotiated for early June delivery. This week, prices were hugely dependent on delivery dates. Cattle priced for May delivery were at a premium over cattle that would be delivered in June.

Livestock Slaughter under Federal Inspection:

                                  CATTLE      CALVES    HOGS      SHEEP

Friday (est                118,000     2,000      436,000      6,000

Week ago (est)        117,000     2,000      434,000      5,000

Year ago (act)          116,000     2,000       422,000      6,000

Week to date (est)  593,000   10,000   2,271,000    34,000

Last Week (est)       589,000   10,000   2,287,000     32,000

Last Year (act)          582,000    9,000   2,180,000     34,000

 

Saturday (est             52,000        0              42,000       1,000

Week ago (est)          58,000        0              40,000       2,000

Year ago (act)            37,000        0              85,000         0

Week to date (est) 645,000    10,000   2,313,000     35,000

Last Week (est)       647,000    10,000   2,327,000     34,000

Last Year* (act)       619,000      9,000   2,266,000     34,000

2018 YTD              11,528,00  192,000  45,011,000  718,000

2017 *YTD           11,247,00  185,000  43,790,000  706,000

Percent change        2.5%         3.7%         2.8%             1.7%

 

Boxed Beef: 

Boxed beef cutout values steady to weak on light to moderate demand and offerings. Select and Choice rib, round, and loin cuts steady to weak while chuck cuts steady to firm. Beef trimmings unevenly steady on light to moderate demand and offerings.

Cutout Values...            Choice       Select

Current Cutout Values:  230.97       208.69

Change from prior day:    (0.10)         (0.45)

Choice/Select spread:      22.28

 

Futures Summary: 

Live cattle futures rallied late to close steady to 25 cents higher on Friday. Feeder cattle futures were down a nickel to 35 cents in most contracts. The CME feeder cattle index was down 72 cents on May 10 at $137.21. Wholesale boxed beef values were lower on Friday afternoon. Choice boxes were a dime lower at $230.97, with Select boxes down 45 cents at $208.69. Weekly FI cattle slaughter is at 645,000 head through Saturday, down 2,000 head from last week but 26,000 head larger than the same week last year. Cash trade was late to develop on Friday, but sales of $122-123 were reported in the afternoon.

 

CME Feeder Cattle Index: 137.21… (0.72)

June Live Cattle Futures: 107.62… +0.10

August Live Cattle Futures: 104.42… +0.12

October Live Cattle Futures: 107.47… +0.22

May Feeder Cattle Futures: 138.42… (0.18)

August Feeder Cattle Futures: 143.90… (0.05)

September Feeder Cattle Futures: 143.97… (0.15)

June Hog Futures: 75.10… (2.22)

 

National Grain Market Summary:

Compared to last week, cash bids for wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans were lower.  While there is a lot of U.S. corn in storage and spot prices were challenging their highest prices in 22 months, the lure of a possible drought in Brazil is keeping some from selling, holding out for the chance of a higher price.  Trade continues to focus on Chinese soybean trade, or more importantly, the lack thereof. Trade is also starting to take a second look at recent soybean bookings by Argentina. Not only is soybean yield down in Argentina this year, but now we are hearing of quality issues as well.  This is from the excessive rainfall in recent weeks which has caused flooding.  This could greatly impact what soybeans can be used for once they are harvested.  Given the severity of drought in the southwestern U.S. Plains, USDA's higher all wheat production estimate of 1.82 bb seems too high, but the smaller U.S. amounts pale in comparison to what the world might do, if this year's weather stays favorable.  So far, the major wheat regions are mostly favorable, except for early dryness in Australia.  Wheat was 8 1/4 to 35 3/4 cents lower.  Corn was 1 to 7 cents lower.  Sorghum was 9 to 22 cents lower.  Soybeans were 27 to 34 cents lower.

 

July Corn Futures: 3.9650… (0.0550)

July Soybean Futures: 10.0325… (0.1800)

July Wheat Futures: 4.9875… (0.0775)

Kansas City Corn: 3.87… (0.01)

Kansas City Soybeans: 9.85… (0.13)

Kansas City Wheat: 5.03… (0.05)

 

Nearby Crude Oil Futures Contract: 70.70… (0.66)

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,830.45… +90.92

NASDAQ: 7,402.88… (2.09)

U.S. Dollar Index: 92.53… (0.19)

 

National Feeder & Stocker Cattle Summary

RECEIPTS:     Auctions     Direct    Video/Internet   Total

This Week    216,400      54,700         6,000          277,100

Last Week    250,300      65,000       61,000         376,300

Last Year      225,900      48,400        54,600         328,900

Compared to last week, steers and heifers sold steady to 2.00 lower. Fundamentally speaking, feeder cattle demand can only be moderate at this time on all weights of feeders as farmers have turned their attention to the GPS monitors that are making sure the corn rows are straight.  With that segment of buyers on the sidelines for a week or two, that leaves the order buyers from feedyards to come in and gobble up the available supplies of feeders this week.  The cash fed cattle market has been strong and the volume purchased by packers the past couple of weeks is not by any means record breaking, however it is notable in the fact that they were willing to take on inventory.  Due to that increased volume, packers are not aggressively chasing the market this week and are content to set back, kick their heels up and wait to buy cattle cheaper.  How much cheaper and if any significant volume has yet to be determined as sellers have dug in for a late Friday trade.  Thursday was a nice up day for the CME Cattle complex, however it has not been friendliest this week with the front month June Live Cattle was only 1.65 higher on the week, despite the near $20.00 difference between cash and futures.  The next three months of Live Cattle contracts were 0.60 to 0.85 lower on the week. 

Feeder cattle futures had nice upticks as well on Thursday, however all of the listed 2018 contracts still closed the week 1.98 to 2.68 lower.  Last Friday at Fort Pierre Livestock in Sort Pierre, SD a package of 719 lb steers sold at 172.00 and two loads per lot of 816 and 822 lb steers sold at 152.00 and 153.00 respectively.  On Monday at Callaway Livestock Auction in Kingdom City, MO a load of 707 lbs steers sold at 160.50. On Tuesday in the hills of North Central MO at Unionville Livestock, a load of 819 lb steers sold at 146.50, before a load of 917 lb steers sold at 140.10. On Tuesday at Imperial Livestock Market in Imperial, NE a load of 723 lbs steers sold at 165.00, while a load of bigger brothers sold at 145.00.

Analysts were encouraged with last week’s slaughter rate of 647K and were anticipating a larger rate this week as large boxed-beef movement is helping to keep the supply chain moving to meet seasonal peak beef demand. However, industry had other plans and the Estimated Slaughter was reported at 645K for this week.  Packer margins continue to be positive in a large way as the Choice boxed beef cutout closed this week at 230.97, 2.67 higher than a week ago, while Select cutouts closed at 208.69, 0.80 lower than last Friday.  Overall, the positive fundamentals of good beef demand and export sales are encouraging, however packers and retailers will pay close attention to beef sales this weekend with Mother’s Day in the windshield and the Memorial Day weekend coming up soon. 

Planters in the fields were very prevalent last week in the Corn Belt as Indiana posted a 34 percent increase in acreage planted in one week; Illinois - 42 percent increase; Iowa – 23 percent increase and Nebraska - 25 percent increase.  Indiana and Illinois are now ahead of their 5 year average in corn planted, while Nebraska and Iowa are getting closer to normal plantings as warmer weather has pushed into the regions.  Drought still persists in the Southwest as Exceptional Drought classification now is in 7 states, and ranchers in Moderate to Severe Drought areas are very concerned about the limited livestock water.  Auction volume this week included 52 percent weighing over 600 lbs and 45 percent heifers.