Cattle futures gained a little ground Thursday with softer Corn futures. Positioning ahead of Friday’s Cattle on Feed report could have also played a role.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 57¢ higher except for unchanged in the back contract.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 32¢ higher.
Grain futures backed up a pace, pressured in part by bearish weekly U.S. export sales and perhaps some skittishness over next week’s Planting Intentions report.
Corn futures closed 4¢ to 9¢ lower through Jly ’23 and then mostly 1¢ to 5¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed 13¢ to 18¢ lower through Jan ’23 and then unchanged to 10¢ lower.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was limited on light demand in all major cattle feeding regions through Thursday afternoon, with too few transactions to trend, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
So far this week, live prices are steady in the Southern Plains and Nebraska at $138/cwt. and steady to $1 lower in the western Corn Belt at $139-$142. Dressed prices are steady in Nebraska at $221 and steady to $1 lower in the western Corn Belt at $221.
Choice Boxed beef cutout value was 81¢ higher Thursday afternoon at $262.41/cwt. Select was 65¢ lower at $252.59.
Net U.S. beef export sales of 27,500 MT (2022) for the week ending March 17 were a marketing-year high, according to the U.S. Export Sales report. Sales were 40% more than the previous week and 29% more than the prior four-week average.
Increases were primarily for South Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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Major U.S. financial indices continued what has become the daily back and forth seesaw, to the upside this time. Positive news included the fewest weekly initial unemployment insurance claims since September 1969 at 187,000.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 349 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 63 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 269 points.
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A new agreement should further enhance U.S. beef exports to Japan.
United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced yesterday that the United States and Japan reached an agreement to increase the beef safeguard trigger level under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement. The new three-trigger safeguard mechanism will allow U.S. exporters to meet Japan’s growing demand for high-quality beef and reduce the probability that Japan will impose higher tariffs in the future.
U.S. beef exports to Japan exceeded 320,000 metric tons in 2021 and set a new value record at $2.38 billion. But U.S. beef was subject to a higher tariff than its competitors for 30 days, from mid-March to mid-April, after imports exceeded the safeguard volume, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).
“USMEF greatly appreciates the efforts of USTR and USDA to adjust Japan’s safeguard on U.S. beef. The U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement was a tremendous breakthrough for the U.S. meat industry, including the significant reduction in Japan’s tariffs on U.S. beef, but the playing field has not been entirely level due to this safeguard. The changes announced today reduce the potential impact of the safeguard and make it less disruptive for U.S. exporters and their customers in Japan,” explains Dan Halstrom, USMEF president and CEO.
“This is a win-win for American ranchers and Japanese consumers,” says United States Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel. “It ensures certainty for years and shows American beef can compete and win anywhere anytime.”