A university Agricultural Economist said in a paper Monday that market fundamentals are bearish at the start of the planting season. Todd Hubbs, agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, wrote in the Extension Agency’s FarmDocDaily that corn prices held steady last week after the bearish World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report projected a … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, known collectively as managed money, increased their net long live cattle futures position to its largest in more than a year as hedgers lifted their net short position to its largest in at least the same period. The data became available Friday in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of … Read More

Weekly average wholesale beef prices have made the annual early spring turn lower, awaiting the late-spring rally to the annual top. Those seasonal peaks and valleys in prices are entrenched and appear to have little to do with concurrent slaughter data, except in the broadest sense.  Instead, the seasonal price movements appear to have as … Read More

Cull cow prices in the Southern Plains may have passed the annual top, but still have a chance to make good if they decide to follow the five-year average rather than last year. This year’s top so far for spent cows in the Southern Plains was $53.25 per cwt on a live basis.  It was … Read More

The April edition of the 2019 forecast for total red meat and poultry production was lowered from March on lower expected beef, pork and broiler production, the USDA said Tuesday. The new estimates were contained in the monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates report Tuesday.   BEEF PRODUCTION ESTIMATE LOWER   The 2019 beef … Read More

US January exports of beef and pork were slightly below last year’s volumes while export values posted mixed results, according to statistics released by USDA and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation. The USMEF said beef exports slipped 1% to 104,766 tonnes from a year earlier, but total value still increased 3% to $642.3 … Read More

Large commodity investment firms, known collectively as managed money, trimmed their net long live cattle futures position slightly in the week ended Tuesday.  It was the second such trimming in four weeks. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission made the data known Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report. Managed money’s new net long live … Read More