Cattle futures, especially Feeder Cattle continued to gain on Tuesday. Some of the support likely stems from positioning ahead of the potential market impact of last week’s storm, which wrought massive flooding in Nebraska and adjoining states.
Live Cattle futures closed an average 59¢ higher.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.43 higher.
Corn futures closed fractionally mixed to 1¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed mostly fractionally mixed to 1¢ lower.
Wholesale beef values were higher on good to moderate demand and offerings, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.00 higher Tuesday afternoon at $229.33/cwt. Select was $1.25 higher at $219.46.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed little changed and narrowly mixed on Tuesday. Pressure included conflicting news regarding progress in U.S.-China trade talks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 26 points lower. The S&P 500 closed fractionally lower. The NASDAQ was up 9 points.
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China’s total swine inventory will be down 13% to 374 million head by the end of this year—due to African Swine Fever (ASF)—according to a recent assessment by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).
“Pork production will decrease by 5% to 51.4 million metric tons (mt), with the reduced supply only slightly offset by weakened demand,” according to FAS analysts, in the People’s Republic of China Livestock and Products Semi-annual. “To cover the domestic supply gap, China will increase pork imports by 33% to 2 million mt. While U.S. pork products still face retaliatory Chinese tariffs of up to 62% and process verification requirements, if these are removed, U.S. producers could significantly increase exports to China.”
As long as the U.S. remains ASF-free.
Last week, thanks in part to USDA-trained detector dogs, roughly 1 million lbs. of pork allegedly smuggled from China was seized at the Newark Point of Entry.
“While China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) has reported 115 outbreaks to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), with roughly 1 million swine culled (as of Mar. 11), it is likely that this vastly underestimates the total number of outbreaks and animals culled across China,” say FAS analysts. “In a country where half of the world’s pigs reside and half of the world’s pork is consumed, ASF has brought significant changes and will continue to affect swine and pork production for the foreseeable future.”