Closing Grain & Livestock Futures Prices
Sep. corn closed at $3.61 and 3/4, up 1/4 cent
Aug. soybeans closed at $12.20 and 1/2, down 6 cents
Aug. soybean meal closed at $387.60, down $7.80
Aug. soybean oil closed at 36.05, down 20 points
Sep. wheat closed at $5.27 and 1/4, up 7 and 1/4 cents
Aug. live cattle closed at $159.85, up $1.07
Aug. lean hogs closed at $119.15, down $2.30
Sep. crude oil closed at $100.27, down 70 cents
Oct. cotton closed at 63.34, down 110 points
Aug. Class III milk closed at $21.38, down 24 cents
Aug. gold closed at $1,294.90, down $3.40
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,880.36, down 31.75 points
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Agri Market News & Comments
Soybeans were lower on fund and speculative selling. There are some dry areas around the Midwest, but forecasts for next week do have a better chance for precipitation. Contracts, especially old crop, tried to rally, but were unable to follow through. Past that – the trade’s continuing to keep an eye on the export market. Soybean meal and oil were lower, following beans. Thursday is the first notice day for August CBOT contracts.
Corn was fractionally higher on spillover from wheat. Corn’s also watching the weather and expecting a large crop with the potential for a very high, if not record, yield. In any event, there was no fresh news and commercial demand remains very light. Ethanol futures were lower. The EIA reports ethanol production for the week ending July 25 averaged 954,000 barrels per day, down 5,000 on the week. Ethanol stocks totaled 18.6 million barrels, up 3.6% from the week before.
The wheat complex was higher on short covering and technical buying. Chicago led the way, with September seeing a bounce of off Tuesday’s new contract low. Nigeria bought 205,500 tons of U.S. wheat, mostly hard red winter, which is Lagos’ second major purchase this week. Out of the total, 151,500 tons was HRW, with 131,500 for this marketing year, and 54,000 tons of soft red winter, with 44,000 tons for current marketing year delivery; the remainder of the purchase, 20,000 tons HRW and 10,000 tons SRW is scheduled for 2015/16. South Korea’s Major Feedmill Group bought 52,000 tons of feed wheat, with a maximum of 4% sprout damage. Earlier this week, the MFG canceled a feed tender due to quality concerns. In sell-buy-sell trade, Japan picked up 26,300 tons of optional origin feed wheat.
It was another quiet day in cattle country with asking prices around 168.00 to 170.00 in the South and 265.00 to 270.00 in the North, but so far not even a token bid on the table. Significant trade volume will be delayed until Thursday or Friday. The kill totaled 113,000 head, 1,000 below last week, and 10,000 smaller than last year.
Boxed beef cutout values were higher on moderate to fairly good demand and light to moderate offerings. Choice boxed beef was 1.52 higher at 262.86 and select was up 1.80 at 260.83.
Live cattle contracts on the Chicago Mercantile exchange settled 25 to 107 points higher. Futures trended higher at the open and traded on a firm basis throughout the session. Contracts were supported by signs of strong late July beef demand and friendly cash expectations. August settled 1.07 higher at 159.85, and October was up .85 at 159.92.
Feeder cattle ended the session 110 to 215 points higher. For the third consecutive session feeder cattle contracts set all time record highs. Furthermore, buying was encouraged by evidence of impressive cash strength and ideas replacement supplies will stay tight through the balance of the year. August settled 1.60 higher at 223.02, and September was up 1.75 at 224.20.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Ozarks Regional Stockyards at West Plains, Missouri totaled 2486 head. Compared to last week, feeder steers traded 10.00 to 15.00 higher, while feeder heifers were 5.00 to 10.00 higher. Demand was very good on a moderate supply. Feeder steers medium and large 1 weighing 550 to 600 pounds brought 247.00 to 262.00 per hundredweight. 5 to 6 weight heifers traded from 230.00 to 247.50.
Lean hogs settled 175 to 282 points lower. Nearby contracts were especially pressured due to faltering fundamentals. Apparently pork producers continue to be aggressive sellers, recognizing decent feeding profits on one hand and the likelihood of greater country receipts over the next several months on the other. August settled 2.30 lower at 119.15 and October was down 2.37 at 103.70.
Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .92 lower at 121.12 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was down .97 at 121.01, and the East is 1.82 lower at 118.92. Missouri direct base carcass meat price closed 1.00 to 3.00 lower from 114.00 to 115.00. In the Midwest hogs were 1.00 higher to 1.00 lower from 85.00 to 95.00 on a live basis.
The pork carcass cutout value FOB plant was down .90 at 130.23. Belly primals were over $6.00 higher but all other cuts were lower.
Faced with extremely tight ready hog supplies, many pork plants will be dark on Friday with the total kill probably reduced to around 255,000 head. It sounds like the weekly kill will fall 9% or more below 2013.
The Wednesday hog kill was estimated by USDA at 400,000 head, 5,000 more than last week, but 4,000 less than last year.
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