(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

CME cattle futures rout continues; hogs end lower

Despite small U.S. herd, placement into feedlots have been above last year's levels

Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange dropped on Thursday to fresh multi-month lows on technical selling and weak beef prices at a time when feedlot supplies of market-ready cattle are rising, analysts said.


ICE March 2024 canola as of Dec. 8, 2023, with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola likely to keep sliding back 

With larger crop, trade likely to be overwhelmed by deliveries, analyst says

There is a rather significant bearish outlook for canola for the rest of December, according to Jerry Klassen of Resilient Commodity Analysis. He said a large part of this was generated by the Statistics Canada production report released on Dec. 4. 




Photo: Thinkstock

U.S. grains: Wheat rallies on fresh round of purchases by China

Soybeans ended narrowly mixed as traders monitored Brazil weather; corn rose for fifth straight session

Wheat rose after U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed private sales of 198,000 metric tons of U.S. soft red winter wheat to China, the second such sale in as many days. Monday's announcement that China had purchased 440,000 tons of the grain, the largest one-off U.S. wheat export sale to China since at least 2020, added impetus to a recent rally.

(Geralyn Wichers photo)

Klassen: Feeder market bounces on lower volumes

Feedlot operators believe yearling numbers will be down in March and April

Strength was noted in Manitoba and Saskatchewan while a softer tone was evident in Alberta. Once again, buyers shrugged off the weaker feeder cattle futures and the focus was on filling year-end orders. Alberta and Saskatchewan feedlots are carrying larger numbers but there appears to be sufficient bunk capacity available to sustain the price structure.