Wednesday's Closing Grain and Livestock Futures
Dec. corn closed at $4.25 and 1/2, up 3 and 1/2 cents
Jan. soybeans closed at $13.29 and 1/2, up 9 and 3/4 cents
Dec. soybean meal closed at $447.90, up $1.80
Dec. soybean oil closed at 40.14, up 24 points
Dec. wheat closed at $6.47 and 1/4, down 6 and 1/2 cents
Dec. live cattle closed at $132.72, up 20 cents
Dec. lean hogs closed at $83.67, down $1.15
Jan. crude oil closed at $97.20, up $1.16
Mar. cotton closed at 79.05, up 44 points
Dec. Class III milk closed at $19.23, up 37 cents
Dec. gold closed at $1,248.20, up $26.50
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 15,889.77, down 24.85 points
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Market News Review
Soybeans were higher on technical buying and short covering. The fundamentals remain strong with a tight supply and January is holding well above the 200-day moving average. However, the trade does expect a record South American crop and there’s more talk about China canceling recent soybean purchases, but nothing confirmed as of yet. Soybean meal and oil were higher, following the lead of beans. Statistics Canada reports 2013 canola production was 17.960 million tons, up on the year and at the high end of pre-report estimates. USDA’s weekly export sales report is out Thursday at 8:30 AM Eastern/7:30 AM Central. Soybeans are pegged at 400,000 to 1.6 million tons, meal is seen at 120,000 to 325,000 tons, and oil is placed at 10,000 to 60,000 tons.
Corn was higher on commercial buying and short covering. Mexico bought a total of 165,750 tons of U.S. corn, 132,600 tons for delivery this marketing year, and weather is preventing the tail end of this year’s harvest. Dow Jones Newswires reports China has rejected at least 120,000 tons of U.S. corn recently, citing GMO content. Past that – there’s a large available supply, but at current price levels, traders seem reluctant to sell new crop corn. Ethanol futures were higher. Weekly U.S. corn sales are estimated at 400,000 to 1.050 million tons.
The wheat complex was lower on fund and technical selling, in addition to the higher dollar. Canada’s wheat crop is reported by Stats Canada at 37.530 million tons, up 38% on the year and above all expectations, and there was just no real fresh supportive news for the complex. Wheat’s overall fundamentals continue to look pretty much neutral. Weekly U.S. wheat sales are expected to be between 350,000 and 650,000 tons.
The cash cattle trade was dead quiet on Wednesday afternoon with both bids and asking prices poorly defined. A few token bids were reported by private sources in Kansas at 129.00 live and 206.00 dressed. Asking prices appear to be around 134.00 plus in the South and 212.00 plus in the North. Significant trade volume will probably be delayed until Friday. The slaughter was estimated at 123,000 head, 1,000 below last week and 4,000 greater than last year.
Boxed beef cutout values were steady to firm on moderate demand and light to moderate offerings. Choice beef was down .30 at 203.30, and select was .09 lower at 180.04.
Light to moderate gains developed in the live cattle contracts and settled 10 to 35 points higher on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. The expectation of firmness in the outside markets as well as a boost in the boxed beef values kept buyers cautiously optimistic. December settled .20 higher at 132.72, and February was up .32 at 134.42.
Feeder cattle contracts ended the session 2 to 20 points higher. Corn market gains over the last two trading sessions have had the biggest effect on feeder cattle prices. Buyer interest slowed by midday as corn futures held gains of up to 5 cents a bushel and that created concern that additional advancements’ in feed prices will develop over the near future. January settled, 20 higher at 165.05, March was up .10 at 165.35.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Ozarks Regional Stockyards at West Plains, Missouri totaled 7025 head on Tuesday. Compared to last week, there were too few numbers to make an adequate comparison. Compared to the last good test two weeks ago, feeder steers and heifers were 5.00 higher. Yearling feeder steers and heifers were 5.00 to 8.00 higher. The supply was heavy and demand was good. 334 head of feeder steers, medium and large 1 weighing 776 averaged 162.64 per hundredweight. 104 heifers weighing 678 brought 154.21.
Lean hog contracts settled 40 points higher to 115 lower. Front month futures hung onto strong losses. Traders focused on the lower pork carcass values over the last couple of days. Pressure was not able to hold through the rest of the complex and deferred futures held on to narrow gains. December settled 1.15 lower at 83.67, and February was up .02 at 89.00.
Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 1.82 lower with a weighted average of 78.51 on a carcass basis, the West was down 1.63 at 78.68 and the East was up .43 at 78.40. The Missouri direct base carcass meat price is steady from 71.00 to 72.00. Terminal hogs closed steady from 53.00 to 56.50.
The pork carcass value closed 1.89 lower at 89.19 FOB plant. The belly primal closed nearly 7.00 lower.
Even though the weekly hog kill seems to be on track to total a new high for the season at 2.35 million head, weekly slaughter could still be 1-2% below 2012.
Wednesday’s hog kill was estimated at 438,000 head, 3,000 more than last week, and up 6,000 from last year.
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