CME December 2019 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle climb on hopes for higher cash trade

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures closed modestly higher on Wednesday, extending a five-week rally tied to expectations of strong prices this week for cattle in the cash market, traders said. “Cash is $1-$2 higher every week, better than what people anticipated,” said Scott Varilek, a broker at Kooima and Kaemingk Commodities Inc. […] Read more



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Trump’s hailing of Chinese farm purchases seen as ‘meaningless’

Reading Time: 3 minutes Beijing | Reuters — China is still a long way from forking out US$50 billion for farm goods from the United States, agriculture industry analysts said on Monday, cautioning that getting there is contingent on removing substantial technical and political hurdles. Outlining the first phase of a deal to end a trade war with China, […] Read more

CME December 2019 live cattle with 20-, 100- and 200-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures climb, led by firm cash trade

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures rose more than one per cent on Monday, with the benchmark December contract touching a 2-1/2-month top after cash cattle traded late last week about US$2/cwt higher than the previous week, traders said. The five-area average price for cash cattle last week was just above $109/cwt, according […] Read more


Vanessa Kummer is seen on a storage bin catwalk on her family farm near Colfax, N.D. on Aug. 6, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Dan Koeck)

U.S. farmers cheered by apparent trade truce

Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. farmers cheered the Trump administration’s announcement of a potentially dramatic increase in U.S. agricultural sales to China on Friday but warned they needed to see a follow-through of actual purchases. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the agricultural purchases could scale up to $40 billion-$50 billion annually as part of a […] Read more