HOGS

• Lean hog futures continued higher on Thursday with all contract months except Feb putting in new contract highs. Feb was up $0.625 at $88.475, while the Apr-Oct contracts were up $0.20 to $0.75.
• Negotiated hogs gave back some of Wednesday’s gains printing a $83.09 national average, which was down $2.04 from Wednesday’s near three month high.
• The cutout was higher on Thursday at $94.62, up $0.64
• Hog crush margins remain historically favorable as lean hog futures continue to rally while grain and oilseed futures remain near five month lows.

Feb 26 Hogs

GRAINS

• Corn futures finished modestly higher on Thursday. Front month March was up $0.0225 at $4.24, and the May-Sep contracts were up $0.0175 to $0.025.
• Ethanol production for last week backed off from the prior week’s all-time record for any week but was still a record for the calendar week at 1.119 million barrels per day.
• Soybean futures were also mostly higher with all but the March contract modestly higher. March settled at $10.64 down half a cent, while the May-Sep were up $0.0125 to $0.03.

March 26 Corn

March 26 Soybeans

Cattle

• Cattle futures were mixed on Thursday with Feb down $0.725 and the Apr-Oct contracts down $0.125 to up $0.025.
• Boxed beef was mixed on Thursday with choice up $1.34 at $367.45 and select down $0.72 at $361.73.
• Pre-report estimates for Friday’s cattle on feed report are as follows:
  • On Feed          96.8%              (96.0-97.6)
  • Placed             93.1%             (88.0-95.1)
  • Marketed         101.7%            (100.0-102.0)
• Extreme cold and chances of snow later this week in cattle producing areas will need to be monitored.

Feb 26 Cattle

Weather

• The U.S. is mostly dry this morning but a major system remains on tap later today across the weekend, bringing rain/ice/snow most across the southern and southeastern U.S. Winter wheat effects should be widely mixed with some winterkill and ice damage, though some benefit from precipitation as well. Plains and Midwest conditions remain dry past that, with temperatures extremely cold into the 6-10 day period, then back to a cool east/warmer west for the 11-15 day time frame in early September.
• Argentina was mostly dry over the past 24 hours save for some isolated rains far southwest, and chances hold west/southwest over the next ten days as well with the bulk of the main corn and soybean areas still dry going forward.
• Brazilian rains held far north yesterday and chances hold center-north over the next ten days, improving moisture for most crop areas, though southern crop regions remain dry and looking for rain into early February.