Cattle futures finished stronger on the first trading day of this week. Live cattle opened up slightly higher while feeders gapped higher out of the gate yesterday. Not quite the way things finished though as feeder cattle spent some time trading both sides of unchanged. By the end of the session, live cattle solidified their gains in the $1+ for April-October, but the May contract was the only one of the feeders to gain more than a buck on the day. April through Oct gained over a buck and those four contract months are also all into new contract highs while December and beyond into the deeper deferreds have not made it up there yet. On the flip side, feeder cattle didn’t perform as well but yet every single contract extended further into new contract highs yesterday before slipping off of their highs into the close.
In current events, over the weekend Trump’s ag admin warned of restricting Mexican cattle imports into the US once again. This is due to the same issue that shut those import down last November, new world screw worm. Imports resumed only about six weeks ago, but due to more recent cases, the issue is being watched closely. Last month, the US imported only 24,000 head of cattle from Mexico, down from 114,000 last year same month. Safe to say we haven’t fully resumed that business which increases demand for domestic cattle here at home.
National feeder and stocker cattle summary for the week ending April 26- Compared to last week, steers and heifers in the North Central area sold 6.00 to 10.00 higher, while those in other areas sold 1.00 to 5.00 higher. Demand was good to very good on light to moderate auction receipts this week. Many stocker calves during this time of the year would be calves coming directly off the cows and buyers were still willing to gobble up those offerings at handsome prices as those prices hover around record breaking levels. With more grass growth and improving pasture conditions, producers will consider keeping more heifers back for replacements. The latest drought monitor is showing a significant improvement with just over 40 pct of the country not in a drought, the first time since August 2024 and with several rain occurrences happening nationwide, there will be more areas with grass eager for more sunshine and warmer weather.
Cattle slg.__ was 104K, -1k compared to wa, -9k compared to ya.
Choice Beef Cutout__342.77 +6.29.
Select Cutout__325.12 +5.01.
CME Feeder Cattle Index: $293.71 +3.83.
Hog slg.__ was 486K, +130k compared to a wa, and +9k compared to ya.
Lean Index. 88.18 +0.64__ Pork cutout___ 97.62 -0.42.
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In the grain and oilseed trade, the ugliest of them all has been the wheat complex. KC wheat the worst sinking even further into new contract lows, Chicago also bad and into new contract lows, but MPLS still holding onto that contract low support it has yet to break below. Rain makes grain and that must be the story there. Corn struggled under pressure for most of the day. Soybean oil may have helped beans find some strength and I think that also pulled some pressure off of corn which allowed both corn and beans to finish well above their lows for the day. Tariffs are still the hot topic as Trump continues to negotiate with different countries, and China especially still the biggest concern there.
Moving on to the weekly export inspections report for the week ending April 24- Another great week for corn shipments, wheat was good as well, beans slipped a little but still not bad for the time of year, and you can guess the consensus of milo shipments. Corn inspections totaled 65.1 MBU for the week compared to 67.96 M the week prior. Corn remains ahead of last years pace by 362 MBU. Soybean inspections came in at 16.1 MBU compared to 20.6 M the week prior. MYTD for soybeans remains ahead of last year by 161 MBU. Milo shipments were 885K bu, compared to only 6,732 bu the week prior. MYTD is behind last year’s pace by 110 MBU or down 63%. Wheat shipments totaled 23.8 MBU compared to 18.7 M last week. MYTD for wheat remains ahead of last year’s pace by 92.4 MBU. Top destination for corn and milo was Mexico, S Korea the top taker of wheat and China for soybeans.
Yesterday’s crop progress report showed corn plantings doubling in progress moving from 12% planted last week to now 24% planted. That is 1% behind last year but 2% ahead of the 5 yr avg. Corn emerged at 5%, 1 behind LY and 1 ahead of the 5 yr. Soybeans plantings moved form 8% the week prior to now 18% planted. 1 point ahead of last year and 6% ahead of the 5 yr avg pace. Milo 21% planted, 2 points ahead of LY and the avg. Winter wheat headed at 27%. WW conditions improved overall, now rated 49% GE and 19% PVP. Kansas specifically is rated 47% GE and 17% PVP, OK 44% GE and 19% PVP, and TX 31% GE and 33% PVP.
8am sales this morning showed 120K mt’s of old crop corn sold to Spain along with 110K mt’s of old crop soybeans sold to unknown destinations.
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