Brad Kooima with Kooima Kooima Varilek says cattle were limit down early Monday on news that Tyson Foods will be closing its Lexington, Neb. beef processing plant on Jan. 20 and the Amarillo, Texas plant will go down to one shift.
Chip Nellinger with Blue Reef Agri-Marketing says the soybean market has corrected its overbought status with the profit taking by the funds so the selling pressure may be over.
The company will end operations in early 2026 in the plant that employs nearly 3,200 people and can slaughter almost 5,000 cattle a day and convert its Amarillo, Texas, beef facility to a single, full-capacity shift.
Scott Varilek with Kooima Kooima Varilek says the market had been anticipating the tariffs to be lowered on Brazil beef for several days and it was part of the recent selloff in cattle. “So I think a lot of this was already penciled into prices.” he explains.
Tight supplies and strong demand have pushed beef prices and producer profitability to historic highs. After peaking in 2025, CattleFax analyst Kevin Good forecasts prices will see a modest correction while fundamentals remain strong.
Jim McCormick with AgMarket.Net says soybeans continue to sell off though as this business has already been priced into the market with the nearly $1.50 rally off the lows.
Grains futures saw sharp losses on Wednesday on profit taking according to Rich Nelson with Allendale, Inc. However, there were several other factors at play.
Strong demand supports beef prices amid economic volatility, but herd investment and growth slows as producers grapple with increasing uncertainty due to political noise.
Kevin Duling with KD Investors says the additional six cargoes of soybeans sold to China were part of the rumored business earlier in the week and have already been priced into the market.
Mike Minor says the agency reported 29 million bushels of soybean purchases Tuesday morning which brings China’s total to from 8% to 12% of the total 12 MMT commitments they’ve made.