Thursday, July 20, 2017

Thursday Morning Livestock Market Update

GENERAL COMMENTS:
Light to moderate trade volume surfaced in parts of Nebraska yesterday with most dressed steers and heifers marked at $188, about $2 lower than last week's weighted average. A few deals brought as much as $189-190. With packers unnerved by narrowing margins and feedlot managers steeled by higher futures, significant trade volume may be delayed until sometime Friday. Opening bids should start out around $115-117 in the South and $186-188 in the North. We assume that asking prices will be around $122 plus in the South and $190-192 in the North. Live and feeder futures are set to open higher, boosted by follow-through buying and pre cash short covering.
Look for the cash hog trade to once again open with steady/weak bids. This week's slaughter is on track to be slightly higher than last week, just over 2.2 million, and above prior year by 4.4 percent. As July transitions into August, supply increases from July's time frame will begin to pick up through the fall. Lean futures should open moderately higher, supported by residual buying and light bull spreading.
BULL SIDEBEAR SIDE
1)Cattle futures quickly came back to life on Wednesday, reversing sharply higher after Oct and Dec live successfully tested chart support near 40-day moving averages. Spot August surge back to the top end of a trading range in place since mid June.1)Midweek cut-outs closed no better than narrowly mixed with box supplies described as "heavy." The summer beef trade has became a real slog.
2)The softening of the basis thanks to yesterday's significant board rally should work to stiffen the resolve of feedlot managers in terms of asking prices.`2)Despite yesterday's impressive reversal, spot August live cattle still seems stuck below tough overhead resistance near 118.50 that has held for more than a month.
3)The pork carcass value closed solidly higher yesterday, supported by better demand for bellies, ribs, picnics, and hams.3)Once again, last night national direct hog report documented a worrisome combination of lower dressed prices and sizable negotiated receipts. Clearly, packers seems to be having an easier time moving ready hogs than they did through the first two weeks of July.
4)For the week ending July 15, Iowa barrows and gilts averaged 276.8 pounds, 1.2 pounds lighter than the prior week and 0.9 pounds below 2016.4)For the week ending July 15, U.S. hatcheries set 226 million broiler eggs in incubators, up 4 percent from a year ago. At the same time, chicks placed in the totaled 182 million up 2 percent from 2016.
OTHER MARKET SENSITIVE NEWS 
CATTLE: (MAEKYUNG.COM) -- South Korea is sharply toughening quarantine check on U.S. beef imports upon report of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) - a type of mad cow disease - in five years from an Alabama animal
The Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Wednesday said it requested its U.S. counterpart to be accurately and timely briefed on the situation and development.
In the meantime, the government would make 30 percent of the U.S. produce subject to sampling physical check - opening up the package, defrosting, and cutting to check in detail -., up sharply from 3 percent share.
To prevent hyped concerns, the agriculture ministry assured that that no beef from slaughterhouses or processing facilities in Alabama is brought to Korea. Currently, U.S. beef that can be imported to Korea is restricted to cattle younger than 30 months with specified risk materials (SRM) removed in the slaughtering process, it added.
South Koreans are sensitive mad cow disease, which led to nationwide protests against U.S. beef import in 2008.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday, local time, said in a release that an 11-year-old cow in Alabama tested positive for BSE when the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was conducting routine surveillance at an Alabama livestock market. It is the fifth detection of BSE in the U.S. after 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2012.
There are 65 slaughterhouses and processing facilities in the U.S. that have been approved for beef exports to Korea. The agriculture ministry said that there are no slaughterhouses for exports in Alabama where the atypical disease was detected.
Nevertheless, the agriculture ministry said that it will respond to the latest atypical BSE case in the U.S. and take necessary comprehensive measures by considering regulations such as domestic animal infectious disease control law and U.S. beef import hygiene conditions.
The Korean government held a meeting presided by Agriculture Minister Kim Yung-rok on Wednesday to establish countermeasures and decided to raise on-spot quarantine inspection on incoming American beef from the current 3 percent to 30 percent.
The agriculture ministry explained that unlike classical BSE that can spread through contaminated feed, naturally occurring atypical BSE is identified very rarely in older cattle and is evaluated as posing less risk by the World Organization for Animal Health. HOGS: (Reforma) -- The low prices offered by US pork exporters of hams and picnics, compared with the domestic Mexican product, led to an increase of 22% in pork exports to Mexico during the first quarter of 2017.
From January to April 2017 imports of US origin purchases of fresh, frozen and refrigerated hams and picnics accounted for more than 90 percent of Mexican pork imports. According to data from Mexico's Secretaría de Economía (SE) they totaled 204,220 tons.
"For example, in the last week of June, ham prices per kilogram were 53.50 pesos", said José Luis Caram, president of la Confederación de Porcicultores Mexicanos (Porcimex). "During that same period, prices of US hams, registered a price of 27.95 pesos according to Mexican customs data," Caram reported.
Due to the difference of prices, meat processors, prefer to source their raw materials from abroad.

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