Tuesday's Closing Grain & Livestock Futures Prices
Jul. corn closed at $5.17 and 1/2, up 9 and 1/2 cents
Jul. soybeans closed at $14.59 and 1/2, down 3 and 3/4 cents
Jul. soybean meal closed at $477.50, down $1.20
Jul. soybean oil closed at 41.11, down 6 points
Jul. wheat closed at $7.39, up 10 cents
Jun. live cattle closed at $138.30, up 77 cents
Jun. lean hogs closed at $123.22, up 87 cents
Jun. crude oil closed at $99.50, up 2 cents
Jul. cotton closed at 93.98, down 77 points
May Class III milk closed at $22.70, down 11 cents
Jun. gold closed at $1,308.60, down 70 cents
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 16,401.62, down 129.53 points
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Market News Review
Soybeans were lower on fund and commercial selling. There’s more talk of export cancellations and U.S. imports of South American beans, but nothing’s confirmed. The near term supply remains tight and overall demand looks solid, which helped contracts bounce off of the session lows. 5% of beans are planted, compared to 11% on average, but it’s still a little early to get concerned. Soybean meal was mixed, consolidating, and bean oil was mixed on old crop/new crop spread adjustments. China’s Ministry of Commerce is expected to project April soybean imports at 6.5 million tons, down from earlier estimates because of poor crush margins.
Corn was higher on fund and technical buying, along with spillover from wheat. 9% of corn is planted, behind average, but ahead of last year, with many areas expected to make good progress at least early this week. Unknown and Spain did cancel on 120,000 tons and 100,000 tons, respectively, of old crop U.S. corn. Ethanol was mixed, with June through September down and other months up.
The wheat complex hit new thirteen month highs on fund and speculative buying. 31% of winter wheat is rated good to excellent, down 2% on the week, with more dry, hot weather expected in the Southern Plains. Also, spring planting in the Northern Plains continues to be slower than average and the U.S. pits are definitely keeping an eye on political developments in and around the Black Sea region. Jordan is tendering for 150,000 tons of milling wheat, Ethiopia’s in the market for 70,000 tons of milling quality, and Lebanon has re-issued a tender for 30,000 tons of milling wheat, while the Maldives are tendering for 6,000 tons of wheat flour. Russia’s Ag Ministry reports 29.7% of spring grains are planted.
Cattle country was generally quiet on Tuesday afternoon with significant trade volume probably postponed until Thursday or Friday. There were a few bids in the South at 144.00 where asking prices are around 148.00, Northern feedlot operators are asking 240.00 plus. There were a few dressed deals evident in Nebraska with a regional paying fully steady money of 238.00 for strictly choice cattle. The kill totaled 119,000 head, 1,000 below last week, and 5,000 less than 2013.
Boxed beef cutout values were lower on light demand and moderate offerings. Choice beef was down 1.02 at 227.88 and select was 1.89 lower at 213.56.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 50 to 100 points higher. Strong gains held across the cattle futures complex as traders focused on the triple digit gains seen in the feeder cattle futures as well as potential beef market support seen over the last couple of weeks. The expectation for beef demand to remain strong through the upcoming Memorial Day holiday is helping to draw additional noncommercial buyers into the market. June was up .77 at 138.30 and August settled .67 higher at 137.92.
Feeder cattle ended the session 82 to 152 points higher but off the highs of the day. There was a combination of commercial and noncommercial buying activity that at one point pushed August futures 2.52 higher. However, the buyer support did erode some ahead of the close. Higher corn futures values did weigh on feeder futures. May settled .82 higher at 183.47, and August was up 1.45 at 191.25.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Joplin, Missouri Regional Stockyards on Monday totaled 6166 head. Compared to last week, steer calves, yearling steers and heifer calves under 500 pounds were 2.00 to 5.00 higher. Heifer calves over 500 pounds were steady, yearling heifers trended steady to 2.00 higher. The demand was called good on a moderate supply. The bulk of the offering was fleshy calves, with a few wean-vac calves and yearlings. 313 feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 528 pounds brought 220.09 per hundredweight. 219 heifers averaging 514 pounds traded at 202.02.
Lean hogs settled 132 points higher to 85 lower. The gains in the lean hog futures faded as initial buying slipped through the complex. Traders had looked for additional fund support but little follow-through buying activity developed through the end of the session. Pressure developed in the deferred contracts and that limited trade interest. Direct trade barrows and gilts and the pork carcass value were sharply lower in the morning reports. May hogs settled .85 lower at 116.05, but June was up .87 at 1223.22.
Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .73 higher at 113.72 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was up .46 at 113.28, and the East was not reported due to confidentiality. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was 1.00 lower from 94.00 to 95.00. Terminal hogs were fully steady from 73.00 to 80.00.
The pork carcass cutout value was 3.73 lower at 112.29 FOB plant.
Despite the fact that spring hog slaughter so far has not proven to be significantly more bullish than the implications of the March 1 hogs and pigs report, some analysts believe that much bigger cutbacks will be verified through the summer months. Many believe the third quarter could see very short numbers versus 2013, possibly off as much as 10%.
The hog slaughter was estimated at 417,000 head, 2,000 more than last week and last year.
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