During the week ended Tuesday, managed money boosted their collective net long live cattle futures position, while hedgers advanced their total net short position, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. Those changes came as the most-active Jun delivery month rose to challenge the contract high and then … Read More
Exceptional Drought Building In Central Plains
Exceptional drought conditions appear to be building in the Central Plains, stressing large swaths of Hard Red Winter wheat acreage, although formerly droughty western states as well as the Midwest and Southeast moisture conditions are mostly normal, according to the latest weekly Drought Monitor from the National Weather Service. DROUGHT SUMMARY A pair … Read More
Global Beef Outlook
The latest Livestock and Poultry: World Markets and Trade report issued by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service in April provides updates and forecasts of beef, pork, and chicken meat production, consumption, exports, and imports for the major countries in each market. GLOBAL PRODUCTION SEEN UP SLIGHTLY Global beef production was projected to increase … Read More
Choice/Select Beef Spread Widening Rapidly
The difference between wholesale prices of choice and select grades of beef, known as the choice/select spread, is widening rapidly, according to USDA data compiled, graphed and published by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver. The choice/select spread last week was listed at $20.96, up $4.24, or 25.4%. from $16.72 the previous week, up … Read More
Frozen Red Meat Stocks Down, Poultry Supplies Up
Total red meat supplies in US freezers on March 31 were down about 1% from the previous month and down about 1% from last year, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in a revised Cold Storage report from last week. The updated version was released Monday. Total pounds of beef in freezers March 31 … Read More
Managed Money Extends Long Cattle Position
As of Tuesday, large commodity index funds, called managed money, had extended their collective net long live cattle futures position for the fourth straight week, while hedgers built their total net short position. That conclusion came from position data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report. … Read More
Census: SNAP End Brings More Food Insufficiency
Households in states that were temporarily distributing extra Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits experienced lower levels of food insufficiency during most of 2022 and early 2023 than those in states distributing standard SNAP amounts, according to the Household Pulse Survey (HPS) from the US Census Bureau. March 1 marked the end of those additional … Read More