In the News

The next issue of Agri Marketing will feature Salutes to NAMA's Leaders of the Year: Lynn Huston, John Deere Financial; Zippy Duval, Farm Bureau and Dean Broadhead, broadhead. To schedule your congratulatory ad contact Audrey Evans: AudreyE@AgriMarketing.com; 515-954-8589.

WEEKLY COMMODITY HIGHLIGHTS

Nearby Futures	Weekly Change	Friday's Close	Year Ago
Corn	-0.0600	3.6125	3.9525
Soybeans	-0.2725	8.6700	10.395
Wheat	-0.0575	4.4250	4.8950
Cattle	-7.63	115.05	104.35
Hogs	-8.00	88.75	74.00
Cotton	-0.57	77.70	84.17
Milk	+0.63	16.32	14.98
Crude Oil	-0.77	63.30	68.19

Grain and soybean futures were down across the board, pressured by weak demand and outside markets. Corn posted its lowest weekly close on a front-month basis since September. Soybeans tumbled to multi-month lows, and Kansas City wheat made a new contract low. A surging U.S. dollar, which rallied to its highest level in nearly two years, helped to pressure commodities, and the CRB Commodity Index was down 1.3% on the week. Fundamentally, the market was pressured early in the week by optimism about planting progress. But as the week progressed, the forecast for the last week of April and first week of May continued to deteriorate, and now growers in the central and eastern Corn Belt are looking at sloppy conditions for at least the next 10 days. This could lead to reduced corn acres, but possibly give soybean acres a late boost as some farmers switch intentions. Traders await some positive news on U.S.-China trade talks, which continue this week in Beijing. Cotton futures were down on the week, pressured by the strong dollar, good recent planting progress, and soft crude oil prices. Large South American crops and a lack of crop threats in Europe hang over the grain and oilseeds complex.

In the livestock complex, both lean hogs and live cattle fell hard and fast amid technically driven speculative liquidation. Negative packer margins are limiting cash hog prices and prompting demand concerns for the pork complex, and the lack of fresh Chinese pork buying in Thursday's weekly export sales report sparked selling. The African swine fever crisis in China remains a supportive factor, although the full impact of the epidemic is not really clear. Live cattle was pressured early in the week by a Cattle on Feed report. Soft beef prices and demand concerns also weighed on cattle futures.

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