Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today: NASS to Review How It Conducts Reports, China's Grain Buys and More
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Good Morning farm country. Davis Michaelsen here with your morning update for Thursday, April 15. From Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today, these are some of the stories we are watching this morning:
Corn futures are 3 to 4 cents higher to start the day, with old- and new-crop futures hitting new contract highs overnight. Soybeans are up 2 to 5 cents, with old-crop leading to the upside. Winter and spring wheat futures are 3 to 5 cents higher. Crude oil futures are slightly lower, as is the U.S. dollar index.
Refinitiv trade flow data shows China imported 19.1 MMT of soybeans during the first quarter of the year, which is a 17.9% jump from year-ago, with the U.S. supplying 18.1 MMT of that oilseed. Brazil supplied around 1 MMT of soybeans, down sharply from 7.3 MMT in shipments in the first quarter of 2020.
The Biden administration is expected to announce sanctions on several Russian individuals and entities tied to a widespread government cybersecurity breach that exploited the software of SolarWinds in December. The breach allowed intruders to access emails of a number of gov’t agencies, as well as steal encryption keys essential to safeguarding the correspondence of top U.S. officials.
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will conduct a “deeper dive” review of how it conducts its Quarterly U.S. Grain Stocks Reports, Lance Honig, chief of the agency’s crops branch, said at a virtual USDA data users meeting. A team will review the sampling methods and questionnaires USDA uses to collect the data as well as how the agency processes the information.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack laid out USDA’s goals to deal with food insecurity and nutrition programs in the president’s budget request, and the agency’s current focus on programs to address longtime racial discrimination during a House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee hearing.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is in Shanghai today. He will meet with Chinese officials as the world’s two largest carbon emitters seek rare common ground.
Everything has been pretty quiet on the cash cattle market front, with the exception of some light trade in the dressed market at steady prices. On a more encouraging note, Choice boxed beef pushed $2.80 higher at midweek and Select rose 77 cents.
Daily hog slaughter tallies have been relatively light this week, but cash hog bids have continued to climb, a possible indication that packers are encountering tightening supplies in the aftermath of last spring’s processing debacle.
