Soybeans and Corn Mixed, Wheat Lower

Feb 12, 2013

Tuesday's Closing Grain And Livestock Futures Prices

Mar. corn closed at $6.96 and 1/4, down 6 cents
Mar. soybeans closed at $14.20 and 3/4, down 10 and 3/4 cents
Mar. soybean meal closed at $410.30, down $2.70
Mar. soybean oil closed at 51.10, down 14 points
Mar. wheat closed at $7.32, down 9 and 1/2 cents
Feb. live cattle closed at $126.05, down 82 cents
Feb. lean hogs closed at $87.25, up 35 cents
Mar. crude oil closed at $97.51, up 48 cents
Mar. cotton closed at 81.81, down 111 points
Feb. Class III milk closed at $17.25, up 5 cents
Feb. gold closed at $1,648.70, up 50 cents
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 14,018.70, up 47.46 points

Market ReCap: Soybeans were mixed on old crop/new crop spread trade, commercial selling, and the mostly higher dollar. After the recent losses, there’d usually be market chatter about new demand from China, but it’s the week of Chinese Lunar New Year, so there more than likely won’t be any new outright sales. In any event, the trade’s watching weather in South America. Conditions for Brazil are generally favorable but Argentina needs more rainfall. Soybean meal mirrored beans and oil was down on technical selling.

Corn was mixed on old crop/new crop adjustments, commercial selling, and the mostly higher dollar, with nearbys now down for eight consecutive sessions. Export demand continues to be slower than expected, cancelling out the current better than normal cash basis. Corn is watching conditions around Argentina with near term conditions generally dry but there is at least some rain in the six to ten day forecast. Ethanol futures were lower.

The wheat complex was lower on technical and commercial selling, in addition to the mostly higher dollar. There was no fresh news for wheat, especially from the export side of the market. Japan’s tendering for U.S. milling wheat but it’s a pretty small amount; the tender is for 34,970 tons of Canadian western red spring, along with 22,134 tons U.S. hard red winter, 19,824 tons U.S. western white, and 19,610 tons U.S dark northern spring. Additionally, there’s a chance for precipitation in the Southern Plains in the next few days. Australia’s Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics estimates 2012/13 wheat production at 22.1 million tons, up 100,000 from the December guess, and projects exports at 20.9 million tons. European wheat was lower, taking its cue from U.S. trade.

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.