Grain and soybean futures are lower in overnight trading as traders take profits on long positions and macro-economic concerns about the viability of US exports over the next few months sharpen.\r\n   However, live cattle and lean hog futures are up amid tightening supplies and steady consumer demand.\r\n   Margin liquidation also is a dominant … Read More

Live cattle futures are expected to see some pressure on the opening bell today as the February USDA Cattle-On-Feed report Friday afternoon was considered to be neutral to slightly bearish as some of the data was already priced into the market.\r\n   The USDA report showed the number of cattle populating US feedlots of 1,000 … Read More

It’s Tuesday in Chicago, a day when commodity markets sometimes reverse themselves from Monday’s action.  Such are the concerns of many soybean traders this morning as overnight action appears to be reversing Monday’s sharp gains in an attempt to fill chart gaps left on daily charts Monday.\r\n   Overnight soybean price declines haven’t been enough … Read More

Chicago futures prices are weaker this morning following the USDA’s release of its projected planting and production estimates at its annual Outlook Conference.\r\n   The USDA projected 2014 US corn plantings at 92.0 million acres, compared with its baseline estimate of 93.5 million and 95.4 million last year.  Officials also estimated an average price of … Read More

The US hog industry will get a battering this morning from a New York Times Op-Ed piece by columnist Nicholas Kristof.  He wrote about an undercover investigation into practices at Iron Maiden Farms, a Kentucky producer, by the Humane Society of the United States.\r\n   The column http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/opinion/kristof-is-that-sausage-worth-this.html?smid=tw-share talks about the use of gestation crates, … Read More

US consumers may be drifting back to pre-recession meat-buying habits – buying more meat and willing to pay more to get it.  This could help explain why wholesale beef prices continue tickling record highs.\r\n   The Food Marketing Institute and the American Meat Institute Tuesday published its ninth annual Power of Meat Survey results, which … Read More

Soybean futures are leading corn and wheat higher in overnight trading as Brazilian consulting firms cut the country’s crop size estimate because of dry-weather concerns, market analysts said.\r\n   AgRural, a Brazilian consulting firm, Monday cut its estimate of the country’s soybean crop by 1.8 million tonnes from its previous estimate to 87.0 million from … Read More