In the News

The next issue of Agri Marketing will feature profiles on NAMA award honorees Todd Fraizer of Corteva, Brian Torrey of John Deere and Richard Guebert of IL Farm Bureau. To schedule your congratulations ad, contact Audrey Evans at AudreyE@AgriMarketing.com.

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WEEKLY COMMODITY HIGHLIGHTS

Nearby Futures	Weekly Change	Friday's Close	Year Ago
Corn	+0.1025	4.6025	5.5200
Soybeans	+0.3775	12.1500	12.9550
Wheat	+0.2500	6.2250	6.9925
Cattle	-1.90	176.68	170.83
Hogs	-3.52	98.95	93.00
Cotton	-2.84	78.06	82.39
Milk	+1.12	19.21	18.50
Crude Oil	-5.87	77.98	67.60

Grain and oilseed futures were mostly higher on the week, with corn and soybeans driven by a wet weather pattern in the Midwest that has caused some uncertainty about planting, helping to offset lackluster demand. Both short-covering by large speculators and new buying fueled the rally, as corn, soybeans and wheat made multi-week highs. There was some support from South American as well: excessive rains in far southern Brazil are disrupting the soybean harvest there, and in Argentina corn crop expectations have declined due mainly to insect pressure. Wheat had support from heat in southern Russia, murky crop prospects for Europe, and further deterioration in hard red winter wheat conditions in the southern Plains. Cotton futures fell to fresh 18-month lows in both old-crop and new-crop before recovering Friday, with the help of a sharply lower dollar. The dollar fell after a disappointing U.S. jobs report, which helped to reignite expectations that the Fed may raise interest rates this year at some point.

In the livestock complex, lean hog futures came under pressure much of the week from rising demand concerns with front-end contracts weakest under pressure from their premiums to a slightly softer cash market. Firm wholesale pork prices failed to stop futures from sliding this week but should limit the downside for prices along with seasonal reductions in hog slaughter. It was a volatile week for both live cattle and feeder cattle futures, with prices being yanked around like a dog on a chain in response to USDA bird flu announcements. Prices sold off hard on Wednesday after USDA said it was testing beef in retail stores for bird flu virus remnants then came roaring back on Thursday when USDA said the testing had found no bird flu. Firm Plains cash markets also helped futures recover.

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