Corn May -2 371; Dec -1 395 (393-97)

Bean May -3 906; Nov -3 939 (935-44)

  Meal -1 310

  Oil +1 2944

Wheat May -5 457; Jly -5 463 (461-70)

  KC -6 436; MGE +6 561

Oats +1 278

Rice -1 1071

 

LC Apr -77 12832; Jun +65 12257; Aug +37 11810

FC Mar +32 14165; May -12 14832; Aug +32 15387

LH Apr +222 7102; Jun +127 8780; Aug +132 9107

Milk Apr -12 1476; May -8 1503 

CBOT futures were mostly lower today, weighed down by poor export inspections for last week and a Chinese newspaper saying Trump/Xi won’t meet before June. Corn export shipments are not on pace to reach USDA’s 18/19 MYr forecast. Even the record flooding in Nebraska and other Midwest locations couldn’t lift the market. The speculators are heavily invested in the bearish side of the grain/soybean market. Friday’s CFTC report put funds net short in CORN (futures & options) at a record-high 258,000 contracts as of March 12. However, Wed-Fri’s corn rally signals they covered a small part of that short. The funds were also record short KC HRW futures. Despite today’s lower closes, today’s lows were above Friday’s lows – a good sign.

Cattle futures closed mostly higher with small gains. The April Live Cattle contract dropped .77 to 128.32 on pressure from Friday’s $127/cwt cash trade. On a positive note, June and beyond LC contracts traded higher to new contract highs. LC is supported by higher hog futures, lower beef carcass weights, a weather-induced drop in slaughter (beef production) and rising boxed beef values. Choice ended UP 1.34 at 228.33 and Select gained .87 to 218.21.

Lean Hog futures have been “off to the races” since March 8. LH posted big gains today as traders turn more bullish on Chinese pork demand because China’s ASF outbreak is still not under control. U.S. Customs intercepted a million pounds of Chinese pork at a New Jersey port; it’s not clear why it arrived in the U.S.  FOB Plant Pork soared 3.50 to 72.39 with sharp gains in every primal.

US$ Steady  96.48

Dow +65 25914

SP +10 2833

NAS +26 7714

Tran +104 10414

  VIX +.22 13.10

 

WTI +48 5930

Brent +31 6747

Gas +2 188

NG +5 285

HO unch 197

Eth +3 141

Gold unch 1303

Slvr +3 1535

2-yr +.010 2.454%

5-yr +.014 2.414%

10yr +.010 2.603%

30yr -.003 3.015%

Quarles: Kentucky Hemp Industry's Economic Impact Showed Explosive Growth in 2018

     March 18, 2019 – Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles announced today that sales of Kentucky hemp products in 2018 were more than 3½ times higher than the previous year and that the amount that farmers were paid for their harvests more than doubled.

     Hemp processors reported $57.75 million in gross product sales last year, according to a Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) review of 2018 hemp licensed processor reports. That compares with $16.7 million in gross product sales in 2017. Processors paid Kentucky farmers $17.75 million for harvested hemp materials in 2018, up from $7.5 million the year before. Hemp processors spent $23.4 million in capital improvements and employed a total of 459 people in 2018, according to the processor reports.

Read entire news release HERE.
 

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