Just as the USDA announces the first round of trade aid to US farmers for trade lost in President Trump’s tariff wars with US trading partners, comes news from the President that the US and Mexico may be on the cusp of a new trade agreement. Monday, the USDA announced the first round of a … Read More

After a one-week break lower, large commodity investment funds, or managed money, have increased their collective net long live cattle futures position and their largest in five months. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report showed managed money had a net long position of 62,059 contracts as of Tuesday, up 7,118, or … Read More

Things really are not going well for pork packers and hog producers. With the new tariffs in place, Hormel Foods Corp. Thursday said its 2018 sales will fall below previous estimates, and Rabobank’s RaboResearch economists said in a release that packers are dealing with a shrinking labor pool.  All of this could mean lower market … Read More

Total red meat supplies in US freezers as of July 31 were up 3% from a month earlier and up 6% from last year, and total frozen poultry supplies were up 1% from June 30 and up 5% from a year earlier, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said today. The monthly Cold Storage report … Read More

As US cow/calf producers transition into activities related to the end of summer and the beginning of fall, Josh Maples, assistant professor and Extension economist at Mississippi State University weighed in on the overriding themes of the cattle market. Maples expressed his views in a weekly letter to Extension agents through the Livestock Marketing Information … Read More

It’s impossible to tell how China’s discovery of African Swine Fever in its hog herd will affect US/China trade in pork, corn or soybeans, but market analysts said it seems likely that something will change. As China deals with its third case of ASF, some US commodities traders and analysts responded to email questions about … Read More

After moving higher for nine straight weeks, managed money’s net long live cattle futures position dipped in the week ended Tuesday, even as commercial traders’ net short position continued to grow. The data was released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday in the weekly Commitments of Traders report. The data showed that managed … Read More