Apr 14 2015

Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary 4/14/15 Posted 9 years 14 days ago by

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

Texas feeder cattle auctions quoted prices from $3 lower to $3 higher. Feeder cattle futures settled $0.20 lower to close at $212.25 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash market had no reportable trade for Monday. Wholesale boxed beef values were mixed, with Choice Grade settling at $257.70 and Select Grade at $249.19. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 109,000 head, up 13,000 from the previous week’s total, but down 6,000 from a year ago. Year-to-date harvest is down 5.2%. Fed cattle futures were $0.03 higher, closing at $158.83 per cwt.

Cotton prices were mixed, with cash down 1.00 cent and futures up 0.07 cents. For the reporting period of April 6-April 12, the USDA NASS Texas field office indicated that preparations for cotton planting were underway in the Plains and West Texas. Five percent of cotton acreage has been planted.

Corn and grain sorghum prices were lower, following other grains and row crops into daily losses.  Soybean futures prices were $2.03 lower. Twenty-two percent of the planted Texas corn crop has emerged, up from eight percent at this point last year.

Wheat cash and futures prices were each $0.30 lower, with 22% of the Texas wheat crop in the heading stage.

Stock markets were lower after two weeks of gains. Crude oil prices rose $0.270 to close at $51.91 per barrel, marking yesterday the third consecutive day of rising prices since Wednesday’s $3.56 price drop.

From the Weekly Recap:

AUSTIN – (April 13, 2015) For the week ending April 11, 2015, Texas auctions quoted feeder cattle prices mostly steady, ranging from $2 to $4 higher per hundredweight (cwt). Texas weekly direct feeder cattle sales were mostly steady to $3 higher. Fed cattle weekly cash sales were $2 higher at $167 per cwt. Wholesale beef values were higher with Choice Grade gaining 94 cents to close at $256.51 per cwt, but Select Grade lost 1 cent to close at $249.91 per cwt. Net export sales for March 27-April 2 were up noticeably from the previous week. Export shipments were up two percent from the previous week.

Cotton cash prices were 1.25 cents higher than the previous week, closing at 62.13 cents per pound. May futures prices rose 1.37 cents last week to settle at 65.06 cents per pound. For the reporting period of March 30-April 5, the USDA NASS Texas field office noted that one percent of cotton acreage in Texas had been planted, down eight percentage points from this time last year. Net export cotton sales were 25 percent lower than the previous week’s sales. Shipments were up 33 percent from the previous week and 42 percent from the average, which is a marketing-year high.

Wheat cash prices gained 9 cents to close at $5.22 per bushel. Conversely, wheat futures fell 24 cents to settle at $5.59 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that seven percent of Texas wheat was in the heading stage. Eighty-nine percent of the Texas Winter Wheat crop remains in fair-to-excellent condition. Fifty-four percent of the wheat crop is in excellent or good condition. Net export sales for wheat were up 97 percent from the previous week and 16 percent from the prior four-week average. Shipments were 11 percent higher than the previous week and 16 percent higher than the average.

Texas corn prices were lower with cash prices down to $4 per bushel and futures prices falling to $3.77 per bushel. The USDA NASS Texas field office reported that 37 percent of Texas corn acreage had been planted, up 17 percentage points from the previous week but down 13 percentage points from the same period last year. Eight percent of the Texas corn crop has emerged. Corn export sales were down 13 percent from the prior week and 29 percent from the four-week average. Export shipments were 54 percent higher than last week and four percent higher than the average.

Warm and windy weather was reported throughout Texas, with eight inches of rainfall in areas of South Texas. Last week’s U.S. Drought Monitor for Texas showed a slight improvement in drought conditions for the state, with nearly 49 percent of the state still in some stage of drought intensity, down slightly from last week. Additionally, more than 25 percent of the state remains in severe, extreme or exceptional drought, which is down from last week but up from three months ago. On the national level, drought conditions worsened, with nearly 60 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.

 

Agri-Pulse: Washington Week Ahead:

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2015 - Now, the real work begins. Congressional Republicans this week will start moving the appropriations bills that give them their best shot at picking apart President Obama's regulatory agenda.

Separately, a bill to provide the president with fast-track trade authority is widely expected to be released this week. Passage of a bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority bill is critical to wrapping up negotiations over the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade agreement and smoothing its eventual passage in the Congress.

Trade and appropriations are likely to be the top priorities for Congressional Republicans to complete this year.

Trade is the single issue where Republicans believe they can reach agreement with the president. Appropriations bills are critical because Republicans plan to add provisions to them to block a range of the administration's regulatory actions.

A House Appropriations subcommittee is scheduled Wednesday to vote on a fiscal 2016 spending bill for the Army Corps of Engineers that's likely to include a provision attacking the administration's proposed rule for re-defining the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) regulated by the Clean Water Act.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Agri-Pulse in an exclusive Open Mic interview that Republicans also will try to stop the administration's plan for reducing carbon emissions from electric utilities.

Such policy riders could provoke a veto fight with the White House, but McConnell said Republicans will try to avoid a confrontation that would lead to a government-wide shutdown. To that end, appropriations bills will be sent to the White House individually, rather than as a large package, he said. An impasse over an individual bill could shut down just a handful of agencies.

“If you pass individual appropriations bills, you don't have a government-wide shutdown,” McConnell said. “If the president vetoes a bill that temporarily shuts down the Environmental Protection Agency, I don't think that's a national calamity. It's an argument over what the bill ought to say.” 

EPA is funded through the Interior-Environment appropriations bill, which also provides spending for the Interior Department and the Forest Service. The Energy and Water bill funds the Energy Department as well as the Corps of Engineers.

For proof that Republicans have a good chance to stop some regulations via policy riders, McConnell cites past successes in rolling back Dodd-Frank regulations on the financial services industry. A provision slipped into the fiscal 2015 omnibus spending measure killed part of the Dodd-Frank law forcing big banks to spin off their derivatives business.

House Republicans also will move a separate, standalone bill to attempt to stop the WOTUS rule. The measure that the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will vote on Wednesday is expected to be similar to a bill (HR 5078) that the House passed last year, 262-152, which would have killed the rule. A standalone bill would give Republicans a chance to force Democrats to go on record on the issue, but the measure would be much easier for Obama to veto than an appropriations measure that is needed to keep government agencies operating.

The TPA bill, meanwhile, will provide an opportunity for bipartisan cooperation before the showdowns on spending later this year when the appropriations measures get to the White House. McConnell told Agri-Pulse that the bill would be released in the “very near future.” “Hopefully, that's something we can pass in the Senate in coming weeks,” he said.

The AFL-CIO has been ramping up lobbying against the legislation in conjunction with the bill's expected release. On Wednesday, union members will rally on Capitol Hill, and on Saturday, there are more than 50 events throughout the country.

Lawmakers are certain to be hearing a very different message Wednesday from 125 pork producers, members of the National Pork Producers Council, who will be in Washington for their a legislative conference.

A TPA bill sets congressional priorities for trade agreements and lays out the process for ratifying trade deals through a process that doesn't allow Congress to alter the details of the agreement. Late last week, congressional aides said the terms of the TPA bill were still under negotiation.

Also Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold an important hearing on overhauling international food aid. As reported in the Agri-Pulse weekly newsletter, Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is considering packaging a sweeping rewrite of Food for Peace along with authorizing the Obama administration's $1-billion-a-year Feed the Future agricultural development initiative.

Corker and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., this year re-introduced the Food for Peace Reform Act (S. 525), which would allow dollars to be used to purchase commodities overseas, not just from American producers. Their bill also would strike down a requirement, known as cargo preference, that at least half of Food for Peace commodities be shipped on U.S.-flag carriers.

The hearing comes as the Obama administration has been in negotiations with the shipping industry to maintain the current cargo preference requirement while also allowing substantial purchases of overseas aid commodities.

Corker told Agri-Pulse he blocked a Feed the Future authorization bill from becoming law late last year because he wanted to consider the issue in tandem with the far more controversial overhaul of Food for Peace.

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

Tuesday, April 14 

9:30 a.m. - Senate Environment and Public Works Committee oversight hearing with inspectors general for EPA and the Interior Department, 406 Dirksen.

10 a.m. - House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1300 Longworth.

10 a.m. - House Judiciary Committee hearing on EPA's plan for reducing carbon emissions from electric utilities, and on discussion draft of bill to allow for judicial review of rule.

10 a.m. - House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2141 Rayburn.

10 a.m. - House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing pending rail, pipeline and hazmat rulemakings, 2167 Rayburn.

10 a.m. - Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing on reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, 253 Russell.

1 p.m. - House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on presentation by National 4-H conference participants concerning the future of U.S. agriculture, 1300 Longworth.  

1:30 p.m. - House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on federal “water grabs,” 1324 Longworth.

3:30 p.m. - Council on Food, Agricultural and Resources Economics hosts forum on “Strategies for Investing in Rural America,” 1302 Longworth.

 

Wednesday, April 15

All day - Organic Trade Association policy conference, Newseum. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is among the speakers.

All day - National Water Policy Forum.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman speaks to the Outdoor Industry Association Fly-In.

9:30 a.m. - Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on food aid reform,

10 a.m. - House Agriculture Committee hearing on SNAP and the role of charities, 1300 Longworth.

10 a.m. - House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on child nutrition, 2175 Rayburn.

10 a.m. - House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee markup of fiscal 2016 bill, 2362A Rayburn.

10 a.m. - House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2362A Rayburn.

10 a.m. - House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on efforts to reform the Export-Import Bank, 2154 Rayburn.

10 a.m. - House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on President Obama's UN climate pledge, 2318 Rayburn.

10 a.m. - House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup of WOTUS-related legislation.

2 p.m. - Panel sponsored by Chicago Council on Global Affairs on “Strengthening Global Food Systems for a Safer and Healthier World,” 328 Russell.

Thursday, April 16                                                                                              

All day - Global food security symposium sponsored by the Chicago Council, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.

10 a.m. - Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook for 2015, 366 Dirksen.

1:15 p.m. - Froman speaks at conference sponsored by Bloomberg BNA and Blooberg Government on the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, U.S. Institute of Peace.

5:30 p.m. -Vilsack to speak at Global Child Nutrition Foundation gala, Ronald Reagan Building.

 

 

Daily Market Summary Data for 4/14/2015

 

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