Livestock and Grain Markets, Prices & Futures
Use the chart below to check futures prices for commodities. Click the links for pricing on grains, livestock, and more and stay on top of what’s going on in the markets. Cash price reflects the USDA Chicago terminal.
Latest News from Markets
Cattle feeding profits improved with $1 per cwt. higher cash prices and lower feeder cattle prices calculated against last week’s closeouts.
While cash cattle prices slipped only modestly, cattle feeders saw margins erode by $86 per head, falling from an average profit of $38 two weeks ago to an average loss of $49 per head last week.
The cash market for fed cattle last week gave some relief to feeders and overall market sentiment in the wake of the prior week’s $5/cwt. decline.
Losses continued to grow for feedyards and the spread between feeder losses and packer profits only widened with a $1.50 per cwt. decline in cash cattle prices last week.
Beef packer continued with a stranglehold on cattle markets last week, buying a few cattle to fill their needs at lower money and keeping operating margins historically high.
Clear Lab uses a robotic platform to improve food safety and its method shortens testing turnaround times by up to five days.
While Dale Durcholz does think there’s potential for a grain production number shift, he says the winter farmers and feed yards have faced is more likely to be the cause of a grain stocks shift lower.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell more than 1% on Wednesday on technical selling, softer cash cattle markets this week and worries about export demand for U.S. beef, traders said.
Market dynamics and consumer shifts support U.S. beef.