Cattle futures continued to gain Thursday with thoughts cash fed cattle prices could firm or gain this week.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of 1.24 higher, except for unchanged in spot Dec. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $4.04 higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was mostly inactive on light demand in all major cattle feeding regions through Thursday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
FOB live prices last week were $218/cwt. in the South Central region, mostly $216-$218 in Nebraska and $210-$218 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were $330-$340 in Nebraska and mostly $340 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $2.67 lower Thursday afternoon at $357.59/cwt. Select was $1.24 higher at $348.71.
Grain and Soybean futures were lower Thursday with pressure including the rising U.S. dollar.
Through late afternoon, and through the front four contracts, Corn futures were mostly 5¢ to 6¢ lower. Soybean futures were 2¢ (spot) to 14¢ lower. Kansas City HRW Wheat futures were mostly 17¢ to 20¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed lower Thursday with pressure from tech stocks and higher oil prices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 189 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 26 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 100 points.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures (CME) were $1.97 to $2.39 higher through the front six contracts.
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While noting that beef and pork exports have achieved tremendous success in north Asia, Peter Zeihan, geopolitical strategist and author, explains demographic trends in the region underscore the importance of market diversification for the U.S. meat industry.
“In Japan, Korea and China, they now have three times as many people in their 50s as they have children,” Zeihan explained at the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Strategic Planning Conference this week. “This is a market that is going to shrink – it has to shrink. Taiwan’s the best of the batch, and it doesn’t exactly look great.”
Zeihan cited Southeast Asia as a promising region for long-term growth, specifically highlighting Indonesia and Vietnam. He noted that U.S. trade officials are pursuing market access improvements in this region that could eliminate trade barriers for U.S. red meat but warned that more resources may be needed for these efforts to be successful.
“Here’s a complication: the way the United States is now pursuing trade deals, framework agreements, sectorial agreements, things that don’t have to go through Congress – they don’t have to be ratified,” Zeihan explained. “So why would [trading partners] abide by them? Any U.S. deal that is a framework or a sectoral deal has to be enforced every single day. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, at its height in post-war world, only had 300 staff. Now it’s closer to 200. You know how many Australia has? Six thousand.”