5 July 2010

2 minute read

North America

Ron Plain

USDA released their June acreage report last week. They now estimate that 87.872 million acres of corn will be planted this year. That is up 1.39 million acres from last year, but down 0.926 million from their previous forecast. USDA revised their estimate of soybean acres to 78.868 million, up 1.417 million acres from last year and up 0.77 million from the March forecast. The shift in acres from corn to beans was larger than pre-release trade forecasts. Grain futures reacted positively with corn contracts gaining 19 to 29 cents per bushel on Wednesday. Soybean futures dropped 7 to 9 cents.

The July corn contracted ended the week at $3.64, up 24 cents from the previous Friday. July soybean meal futures gained $5.30 this week to settle at $294.90/ton.

The boxed beef cutout rose again this week. On Friday morning, the choice boxed beef carcass cutout value was $1.5572/pound, up 1.47 cents for the week and 17.79 cents higher than last year. The select cutout was up 0.53 cents from the previous Friday to $1.47 per pound.

Fed cattle prices held steady this week. The 5-area daily weighted average price for slaughter steers sold through Thursday of this week on a live weight basis was $91.04/cwt, up 6 cents from a week earlier and $8.23 higher than a year ago. Steers sold on a dressed weight basis this week averaged $145.57/cwt, 52 cents lower than the week before, but $14.57 higher than last year.

This week's cattle slaughter totaled 664,000 head, down 0.4% from the previous week but up 5.9 per cent compared to the same week last year which was light because it included July 4. Year-to-date, beef production is down 1.0% and pork production is down 3.8%.

Steer carcass weights averaged 820 pounds during the week ending June 19. That was up 2 pounds from the week before, but 12 pounds lighter than a year ago. This was the 30th consecutive week with steer weights below year earlier levels.

Cash bids for feeder cattle were mostly steady to a couple dollars higher at auctions this week. The price ranges at Oklahoma City for medium and large frame steers were: 400-450# $130-$150, 450-500# $130-$139, 500-550# $126-$133.75, 550-600# $116.50-$127.50, 600-650# $112-$125.75, 650-700# $110-$119, 700-750# $114-$116.25, 750-800# $109.75-$115 and 800-1000# $100.50-$112.75/cwt.

The August fed cattle futures contract ended the week at $89.47/cwt, up $1.17 compared to the previous Friday. The October contract gained $1.82 this week to end at $90.92/cwt. The December contract settled at $93.12 and February ended the week at $95.10.

TheCattleSite News Desk