Live cattle open interest declined sharply during the week ended Tuesday while live cattle futures prices were moving higher, showing the rally in futures was driven mostly by short covering, market analysis showed. CME Group data showed total live cattle open interest as of Tuesday was 335,533 contracts, down 21,109, or 5.92%, from 356,642 the … Read More
Growing China Beef Demand Means More Imports
Last year, China replaced the US as the leading beef importer, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University agricultural economist in a letter to Extension agents called Cow/Calf Corner, who added that if Hong Kong is included, total China/Hong Kong imports were larger than the US beginning in 2017. World beef imports increased 17.7% from 2015 … Read More
Fed Summarizes Ag Conditions
The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book last week said total direct payments to farmers was expected to increase this year. Subsequent to the Beige Book’s release, the Bank released a summary of agricultural conditions by district. This is a version of that release, edited for length and style. SIXTH DISTRICT – ATLANTA Much of … Read More
Cash Cattle At A Bottom? Maybe
A Beef magazine article Tuesday wondered if the cash fed cattle market hadn’t hit a seasonal bottom, stemming the flow of cash from feedlot pockets. The answer from a historical perspective is a strong maybe. The Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver, CO, keeps tabs on weekly slaughter steer prices in the Southern Plains. According … Read More
K-State Economists See Wider Mid-October Cattle Basis
The Kansas State University mid-month slaughter steer basis forecast for western Kansas predicts a widening basis into October from mid-month September to slightly more than $2 per cwt, followed by a decline into November to just above zero. K-State agricultural economists graphed their latest predictions of western Kansas slaughter cattle basis through February of 2021 … Read More
Funds Boost Net Short Cattle Position
Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment firms, increased their collective net short live cattle positions in the week ended Tuesday after four straight weeks of cutting their net long position. The data comes from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report on Friday. As of Tuesday, managed money was net … Read More
WASDE Report Lowers Red Meat Production Forecast
Agriculture market analysts said grain and soybean futures were bulled by Thursday’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, but they could have added live cattle to the list as well since all contracts closed higher. The USDA report lowered its forecast for 2019 total red meat and poultry production to 104.603 billion pounds from … Read More