Insights and Stories on USDA

U.S. livestock: Live cattle touch late-July lows on demand jitters

Sep. 2, 2020 at 7:43 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures on Wednesday dropped to their lowest prices since July amid uncertainty about how much U.S. demand will decline as the summer grilling season draws to a close. Beef and cattle prices are often weak this time of year as demand […]

U.S. grains: Soybeans touch two-year high on dry weather

Aug. 31, 2020 at 5:34 pm CDT

By Tom Polansek

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures extend losing streak

Aug. 27, 2020 at 6:17 pm CDT

By Mark Weinraub

U.S. grains: Soy futures rise on fresh China sale

Aug. 26, 2020 at 5:59 pm CDT

By Mark Weinraub

U.S. grains: Crop concerns, Chinese buying spark rallies in soy, corn

Aug. 25, 2020 at 6:32 pm CDT

By Mark Weinraub

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures fall as supplies grow more than expected

Aug. 24, 2020 at 4:21 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures fell on Monday, with the market under pressure from a government report that showed supplies were bigger than expected. The U.S. Agriculture Department’s monthly Cattle on Feed report on Friday afternoon showed July placements at 111 per cent of a year […]

By Mark Weinraub

U.S. livestock: Live cattle slide ahead of USDA report

Aug. 21, 2020 at 5:49 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell on Friday on profit-taking and positioning ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cattle on Feed report, released after the markets closed. CME lean hog futures also ended lower, correcting after two days of positive movement, as optimism over […]

By Christopher Walljasper

U.S. grains: Corn, soy ease as harvest, export prospects weighed

Aug. 20, 2020 at 6:18 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybeans slipped on Thursday after a seven-month peak a day earlier, while corn eased as traders set recent storm damage against generally strong prospects for harvest yields. Wheat ended higher as traders digested competing signals for global supply. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago […]

By Christopher Walljasper

U.S. livestock: Lean hogs up as slaughter pace reaches pre-COVID levels

Aug. 20, 2020 at 5:56 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures gained on Thursday as slaughter rates returned to levels not seen since processing plants closed from COVID-19 outbreaks among workers this spring. Live cattle futures fell as pre-Labour Day buying wound down and the industry awaited Friday’s monthly Cattle on […]

By Christopher Walljasper

Storm and drought impacts on Iowa corn seen in crop tour

Aug. 19, 2020 at 6:31 pm CDT

Chicago | Reuters — A clearer picture of damage to crops in the path of last week’s derecho storm emerged on Wednesday, as crop scouts on an annual tour scrambled across blown-over corn stalks and wind-battered soybean fields in Illinois and Iowa. Iowa officials on Tuesday warned much of the […]

By Mark Weinraub P.J. Huffstutter