Cash cattle prices may be up this week as cash and futures try to converge, but then things become a little murkier. Cash markets got a boost this week as the Feb contract moved higher. Traders with long positions as of the close of business Monday risk being delivered on, yet demand pushed them higher. … Read More
Pork Cutout Ready To Turn Lower?
While the weekly USDA pork cutout value last week was up from the previous week, the same week last year and the 2015-2019 average, it may be turning lower this week, right on schedule. The data came from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. It was compiled into graphs and published by the Livestock Marketing Information … Read More
Farmer Sentiment Declines In January: Survey
The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer dropped seven points in January to a reading of 167, according to a release from Purdue Ag Economist James Mintert. The Ag Economy Barometer is calculated each month from 400 US agricultural producers’ responses to a telephone survey. This month’s survey was conducted from Jan. 18-22. CURRENT-CONDITIONS … Read More
Large Jump In Funds’ Long Cattle Positions
Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, invested heavily in long live cattle positions during the week ended last Tuesday, Jan. 26, while hedgers took the other side and increased their collective net short position. The information came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday and covers a period … Read More
Cattle Herd Declines Slightly
The US cattle herd on Jan. 1 declined by 198,000 head, or 0.21%, to 93.595 million from a revised 93.793 million a year earlier, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its semi-annual Cattle (Inventory) report on Friday. That amount of decline is almost insignificant in the total scope of things, even though the … Read More
Feeding Margin Last Week Near Steady: Sterling Profit Tracker
With the weekly average all-cattle carcass weight hovering around 839 pounds, and fed cattle prices near steady last week at $109 to $111 per cwt, average unhedged feedlot losses were near steady. Sterling Marketing Inc., of Vale, Ore., publishes its Beef and Pork Profit Trackers weekly through Drovers. The calculated numbers can be thought of … Read More
Beef Production Forecasts Down Through 2022
Given the current demand for beef and the projected production, it might be a good time to invest in some form of cattle and/or beef production business. Things can change the current consumer buying interest for beef, like prices or spendable income or the latest food scare and competition from other proteins, but with projections … Read More