Grain and cattle markets end lower Tuesday with lean hogs higher.
Brian Grete with Pro Farmers says grains sold off into the close with some profit taking as traders were disappointed about the lack of changes in the domestic balance sheets in the WASDE.
The February report is usually fairly benign and USDA didn’t disappoint leaving U.S. corn ending stocks unchanged at 1.54 billion bu. and soybeans at 380 million bu.
The trade was expecting at least the corn balance sheets to tighten and reversed off the highs during the session to end lower and soybeans followed.
USDA made some minor adjustments in the global and South American numbers for corn and soybeans.
Global carryover dropped 3 MMT for corn and 4MMT for soybeans largely as a result of some cuts in South American production.
USDA cut the Argentine soybean crop by 3 MMT to 49 MMT, while leaving Brazil at a record 169 MMT.
On corn, the agency lowered Argentina corn production 1 MMT to 50 MMT and Brazilian production also 1 MMT to 126 MMT.
China corn imports were also lowered though by 3 MMT to 9 MMT.
However, Grete says the soybean market is still looking at burdensome world supplies and now throw in trade war fears as tariffs have ramped up on China.
Wheat ending stocks were lowered 4 million bu. to 794 million, while global stocks fell 1.3 MMT to 257.6 MMT.
However, Grete says wheat followed the corn and soybeans lower.
Live and feeder cattle futures saw triple digit losses on additional fund liquidation and lower cash trade.
A light trade was reported in parts of the South at $203, $3 lower than last week’s weighted averages.
Grete says he is still optimistic the market will retest the contact highs at some point in 2025 but right now the market is seeing a short term technical correction.
“The market has gone from funds buying every break to funds liquidating on any strength,” he says.
Also adding pressure is packers are cutting kills to prop up their margins.
Lean hog futures ended higher following the strength in the lean hog index and new highs for the move in the cutout value.
