Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on very light demand to slow with moderate demand through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
So far this week, live prices are steady to $2 higher in the Texas Panhandle at $136-$138/cwt., $4 higher in Colorado at $145, $2-$4 higher in Nebraska at $145 and $2-$3 higher in the western Corn Belt at $144-$145. Dressed prices are $4-$5 higher at $230. Live prices in Kansas last week were $137-$138.
Cash price strength helped boost Cattle futures.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.22 higher (55¢ to $1.97 higher).
Live Cattle futures closed an average of $1.22 higher (20¢ higher toward the back to $2.72 higher toward the front).
Choice Boxed beef cutout value was $1.22 lower through Wednesday afternoon at $268.22/cwt. Select was $1.14 lower at $245.68.
Corn futures closed mostly fractionally mixed, except for 5¢ higher in the spot month.
Soybean futures closed mostly 1¢ to 2¢ lower through Sep ‘23 and then mostly fractionally lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Wednesday after the Fed increased the federal lending rate by 75 basis points, as was widely expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 303 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 54 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 270 points.
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Bipartisan legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representative this week — headed to the White House for President Biden’s signature — aims to ease ongoing ocean transportation and supply chain congestion.
If signed into law, as expected, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act would strengthen the authority of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) by providing it with new tools to help level the playing field for American exporters and counteract anticompetitive behavior. The bill would also help FMC more efficiently resolve disputes between ocean carriers and shippers, while also taking actions at the U.S. Department of Transportation to alleviate strain across the supply chain.
“Foreign flagged ocean carriers are playing games with American agriculture exports and our bill puts an end to it,” says U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) Johnson. “The Ocean Shipping Reform Act is the strongest fix to our maritime laws in a generation. Americans are facing record inflation, our bill isn’t a silver bullet, but help is on the way.”
“In these times of rising input costs, it has never been more important to maximize the value of our agricultural products, and the best way to do that is to ensure access to the international marketplace. This legislation takes important steps forward in improving the shipping services available to U.S. exporters,” according to a statement from the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
“The common-sense improvements made by this bill will provide the FMC with the tools necessary to address unreasonable practices by ocean carriers and hold them accountable for any bad-faith efforts that disenfranchise American producers, including those throughout South Dakota, who feed the world,” says U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD).
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act will:
- Prohibit ocean carriers from unreasonably refusing cargo space accommodations for U.S. exports and from discriminating against U.S. exporters;
- Promote transparency by requiring ocean common carriers to report to the FMC each calendar quarter on total import/export tonnage and twenty-foot equivalent units (loaded/empty) per vessel that makes port in the United States;
- Authorize the FMC to self-initiate investigations of ocean common carrier’s business practices and apply enforcement measures, as appropriate; and
- Establish new authority for the FMC to register shipping exchanges to improve the negotiation of service contracts.