Friday Market Watch

 LIVESTOCK:

Friday ended on the positive note for the cattle contracts, but not for the lean hog market. Come Monday, the live cattle market will be watching see if traders still favor pushing the market higher and feeders will be closely eyeing the corn market. Hog prices closed $3.13 loads on the Daily Direct Afternoon Hog Report with a weighted average of $112.09 on 3,480 head. 

From Friday to Friday, livestock futures scored the following changes: June live cattle up $1.42, August live cattle up $1.45; August feeder cattle up $7.55, September feeder cattle up $7.00; June lean hogs down $0.20, July lean hogs down $0.97

Friday's slaughter is estimated at 126,000 head, 6,000 head more than a week ago and year ago. Saturday's slaughter is projected to be 96,000 head, 71,000 head more than a week ago and 3,000 head less than a year ago. This week's slaughter is estimated at 603,000 head, 41,000 head less than a week ago but 59,000 head more than a year ago.

Beef net sales of 17,900 mt for 2022 were down 11% from the previous week and 17% from the prior four-week average. The three largest buyers were Japan (6,000 mt), China (4,800 mt) and South Korea (2,700 mt).

Boxed beef prices closed higher: choice up $0.61 ($267.26) and select up $0.39 ($250.02) with a movement of 88 loads (52.82 loads of choice, 11.54 loads of select, 12.21 loads of trim and 11.61 loads of ground beef). Throughout the week choice cuts averaged $267.22 (up $3.17 from a week ago) and select cuts averaged $249.30 (up $4.39 from a week ago) and the week's total movement of cuts, grinds and trim totaled 509 loads.

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GRAINS:

July corn closed down 3 1/4 cents and December corn was down 4 1/4 cents. July soybeans closed down 31 1/2 cents and November soybeans were down 14 3/4 cents. July KC wheat closed down 22 1/2 cents, July Chicago wheat was down 18 1/4 cents and September Minneapolis wheat was down 8 cents. 

For the week:

July corn closed down 50 1/4 cents and December corn was down 40 cents. July soybeans ended down 34 1/2 cents and November soybeans were down 17 cents. July KC wheat closed down $1.14 1/4, July Chicago wheat was down $1.17 1/2 and September Minneapolis wheat was down $1.11 1/4.

DAIRY:

MILK

Weather in the Midwest has been cooler which is keeping cows comfortable and feed intakes high. However, milk production seems to have peaked indicating spring flush may be finished. Milk in the Northeast continues to show some gains, but the pace is slowing as well. Other areas are holding steady. More milk is moving to manufacturing from school accounts and will continue to do so for the next few months. May Class III milk price set a new record. Depending on the level of demand the rest of the year, that record could also be broken. However, there is concern high prices in grocery stores may result in some slowing of demand, maybe not so much for milk, but for other dairy products. Milk production in New Zealand is projected to be down 4.3% for the 2021-22 season. Overly wet weather in some areas and drought in others has had a significant impact on production.

AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES

3 Month:	$24.45
6 Month:	$24.26
9 Month:	$23.86
12 Month:	$22.06

CHEESE

For the week, blocks declined a penny with 5 loads traded. Barrels declined 5 cents with 15 loads traded. Dry whey gained 3.50 cents with 2 loads traded. According to the April Dairy Products report, American cheese production totaled 465 million pounds, down 2.7% from April 2021. Italian type cheese output reached 489 million pounds, up 1.2% from the previous year. Total cheese production totaled 1.16 billion pounds and 0.1% above a year earlier. Dry whey production totaled 82.8 million pounds which was 7.0% higher than a year ago. Lactose production increased 2.8% totaling 101 million pounds. Whey protein concentrate declined 1.1% totaling 45.0 million pounds.

BUTTER

For the week, butter gained 3.75 cents with 27 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk price increased 0.25 cents with 10 loads traded. Butter production in April totaled 181 million pounds, down 1.0% from April 2021. Nonfat dry milk production totaled 196 million pounds, an increase of 1.0% from a year ago. Skim milk powder totaled 35.6 million pounds. This was down 36.5% from April 2021.

LATEST HAY MARKET REPORTS - HERE

OUTSIDE MARKETS:

The June U.S. Dollar Index is trading up 0.36 at 102.19. July crude oil gained $2.00 closing at $118.87 per barrel. The DOW fell 349 points closing at 32900 while the NASDAQ fell 304 points closing at 12,013. June gold is down $19.90 at $1,851.50, July silver is down $0.36 at $21.92 and July copper is down $0.0835. July heating oil is up $0.0706, July RBOB gasoline is up $0.0556 and July natural gas is up $0.017.