Hogs

• Lean hog futures were firm on Thursday with all but the furthest deferred contracts finishing higher. The June contract settled at $103.45, up $0.825 and the Jul-Dec contracts were up $0.475 to $0.775.
• Pork export sales for the week ended 4/16 were released this morning and came in at 16.1K tons.  This brought the accumulated total to 792.7K tons, up 3.1% from last year.
• The negotiated national average was not reported on Thursday afternoon due to limited trade.
• The pork cutout continued to pullback and printed at $97.82 on Thursday afternoon down $0.73.

Subsidy capture is prohibited. On our quote, we show the difference between the cost of an LRP endorsement and CME put options to demonstrate the value of the insurance product NOT promoting the practice of subsidy capture. Please ask us any questions regarding using livestock insurance products and other livestock pricing tools.

Grains

• Corn futures were modestly higher on Thursday with May up $0.0125 at $4.555, and the Jul-Dec contracts up $0.01 to $0.015.
• Corn export sales for the week ended 4/16 were 69 million bushels bringing the accumulated total to 2.917 bil, up 28% from a year ago. 
• Soybean futures were lower on Thursday with May down $0.0475 at $11.5975 and the Jul-Nov contracts down $0.01 to $0.0475.
• Soybean export sales for the week ended 4/16 were 13 million bushels bringing the accumulated total to 1.414 bil, down 18% from last year.

Cattle

• Live cattle futures found some traction on Thursday and finished higher across the board. Front month April was up $0.225 at $247.075, and the Jun-Dec contracts were up $0.425 to $0.975 
• Widespread negotiated trade continued on Thursday mostly at $246 down $2 from last week.
• Beef export sales for the week ended 4/16 came in at 15.1K tons. The accumulated marketing year total is 315.8K tons up 0.6% from last year. 
• Boxed beef was lower on Thursday with choice down $0.69 at $383.50 and the select down $0.75 at $382.58.

Subsidy capture is prohibited. On our quote, we show the difference between the cost of an LRP endorsement and CME put options to demonstrate the value of the insurance product NOT promoting the practice of subsidy capture. Please ask us any questions regarding using livestock insurance products and other livestock pricing tools.

Weather

• Showers and thunderstorms fell as expected last night from SW to NE across the heart of the corn belt; action continues in the ECB today with the heaviest rains expected in the south. Active precip remains through mid-next week, including strong coverage for all but the southern Plains. Extended maps are more varied precip-wise, including a mostly drier 6-10 day center-north; temperatures remain below-normal up through the first week of May. 
• Argentine crop areas remain dry over the next ten days; Brazil saw southwestern rains yesterday and action holds center-south over the next ten days, leaving some dryness concerns to increase for safrinha corn north/northeast.