Latest news with #TomPolansek
Mint
14-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
CME cattle futures backpedal from strong rallies
CHICAGO, July 14 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle and feeder futures tumbled on Monday in a technical setback from lofty prices, traders said. The markets surged last week as cash prices jumped more than many traders expected and Washington again halted imports of cattle from Mexico, limiting supplies. Consumer demand for beef has largely remained strong this year, even as tight U.S. cattle inventories have reduced production and pushed prices to records. Futures took a breather after rallying Friday, traders said. CME August live cattle futures closed down 2.85 cents at 219.35 cents per pound after jumping 3.8% last week. August feeder cattle sank 5.85 cents to end at 319.475 cents per pound. The contract soared 5% last week, as analysts said that cash prices increased by $4 to $8 per hundredweight. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday that it would immediately block cattle imports from Mexico due to the spread of New World screwworm, a devastating livestock pest, after starting to resume imports days earlier. Some producers typically import Mexican cattle to fatten in U.S. feedlots and slaughter in U.S. processing plants. Beef processors saw profit margins turn negative as they paid higher prices for cattle while beef prices declined. Meatpackers were losing $43.20 for each head of cattle they processed on Monday, compared to profits of $73.95 a week ago, said. U.S. wholesale boxed beef prices remained under pressure after sliding late last week. Choice cuts fell by $1.57 to $377.07 per hundredweight (cwt), according to USDA data. For pork, the wholesale U.S. carcass cutout price edged up $0.38 to $113.85 per cwt, the USDA said. Prices surged for pork bellies and sank for butts. CME August lean hogs ended 1.45 cents lower at 103.225 cents per pound. Meatpackers slaughtered an estimated 477,000 hogs, compared to 478,000 hogs a week ago and 474,933 hogs a year ago, according to the USDA. Packers slaughtered an estimated 112,000 cattle, down from 114,000 cattle a week ago and 117,427 cattle a year ago, as inventories are low. (Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
US again halts cattle imports from Mexico over screwworm pest
By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Agriculture has again halted imports of Mexican cattle into the United States due to the spread of the damaging livestock pest New World Screwworm in Mexico. Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in wounds on warm-blooded animals, usually livestock and wild animals. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of screwworm larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh, eventually killing their host if left untreated. The USDA said in a statement late on Wednesday that it ordered the closure of livestock trade through southern ports of entry effective immediately following the detection of screwworm about 370 miles south of the border in Ixhuatlan de Madero, Veracruz. The decision was a quick reversal after the USDA said last week it would resume cattle imports from Mexico on Monday at a port of entry in Douglas, Arizona, as part of a phased reopening of the border. Washington suspended cattle imports from Mexico in May as New World Screwworm was detected in farms in Oaxaca and Veracruz, Mexico, about 700 miles from the U.S. border. "We must see additional progress combatting NWS in Veracruz and other nearby Mexican states in order to reopen livestock ports along the Southern border,' USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement.
Hindustan Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
CME feeder cattle reach new high on limited US supply
By Tom Polansek CME feeder cattle reach new high on limited US supply CHICAGO, - Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures reached new highs on Monday, while live cattle finished stronger on concerns over limited U.S. supplies, analysts said. Although Washington began to resume cattle imports from Mexico, inventories remain tight and demand for beef from consumers is solid, they said. CME August feeder cattle futures finished up 4.225 cents at 313.725 cents per pound. August live cattle ended 1.85 cents higher at 215.900 cents per pound. Futures prices looked low compared with cash prices that traded last week, a trader said. CME feeder cattle also got a boost from declining prices for corn used for livestock feed, analysts added. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week it would resume cattle imports from Mexico at a port of entry in Douglas, Arizona, on Monday as part of a phased reopening of the border. The agency suspended imports in May due to spread of the damaging livestock pest New World screwworm in Mexico. The decision to resume trade at the Douglas port will ease economic pain for some cattle producers who depend on imports from Mexico for their business, said Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Other cattle groups opposed the reopening and warned that it increases the risk for screwworm to enter the United States. Mexico's government said it has started to build a $51 million facility in the country's south as part of an effort to combat screwworm. It is slated to be completed in the first half of 2026. In the pork market, CME August lean hogs ended up 1 cent at 107.100 cents per pound, after falling earlier to their lowest level in more than a month. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ADM sets off 'frenzy' in US soybean market ahead of new biofuel blend rule
By Tom Polansek and Karl Plume CHICAGO (Reuters) -Archer-Daniels-Midland, a major U.S. soybean crusher and biofuel producer, slashed its bids to buy the oilseed this week ahead of an expected Trump administration announcement on biofuel blending requirements, a primary driver of demand for soybean oil. Processors such as Chicago-based ADM have been waiting for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision on blending requirements for months as they grapple with slumping crush margins and abundant soybean stocks. Reuters reported on Thursday that the EPA is expected to propose blending requirements below industry recommendations on Friday, leading to lower-than-expected demand for soyoil to be used in biofuels. ADM said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Thursday that it does not have insight around the pending blending announcement beyond publicly available information and that it independently sets its basis bids, which is the difference between futures and a local cash price to take possession of the grain immediately. The company on Wednesday rolled its cash basis bid at its flagship Decatur, Illinois, facility to 20 cents below the Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures price from 22 cents over July futures. The roll to November futures, which closed at a 15-cent discount to July on Thursday, lowered the local cash price by about 60 cents a bushel, representing an unusually sharp 6.5% drop in the price offered to farmers. ADM also rolled basis bids at its other crushing facilities, and some rival processors, including Cargill, followed ADM on Thursday. Other processors kept their basis bids against the July futures contract, but lowered basis values by up to 15 cents. "ADM Decatur put the bean market in a frenzy," agriculture trading company John Stewart and Associates said in a note. Falling basis values reflect expectations for a large autumn harvest and weak demand that has eroded processing margins for companies that crush beans into soymeal livestock feed and soyoil used for cooking and producing biofuels. Crush margins have struggled as a recent jump in U.S. processing capacity has swelled available supplies of meal and oil and pressured prices for the soy products. Tariff worries and unclear U.S. biofuels policies have stoked further unease among crushers and biofuel makers, and some biodiesel producers have scaled back or idled plants. ADM said in April it would permanently close a South Carolina soybean processing plant to cut costs. "Cash crush margins stink, and there is a bunch of downtime scheduled for July," said Charlie Sernatinger, executive vice president for Marex Capital Markets. Diana Klemme, vice president of Grain Service Corp in Atlanta, which serves agricultural hedgers in the futures markets, sent an alert to customers after seeing ADM's bid adjustments. She said that she had never seen a move to new-crop basis levels in June in more than 50 years in the grain business. "I said check your markets carefully because ADM just dropped all their bids 40-75 cents a bushel and went to new-crop values," Klemme said. The November futures contract represents the autumn harvest price, or the new crop. Farmers have been reluctant to sell crops to processors because they want higher prices, while processors avoided raising bids to protect their thin margins.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US immigration raid of Omaha meat plant cuts staff, fuels food production worries
By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) -U.S. meat producer Glenn Valley Foods was operating an Omaha, Nebraska, facility with about 30% of its staff on Wednesday after federal agents detained workers in an immigration raid the previous day, slashing the output of products it sells to grocery stores and restaurants, the company's president said. In the wake of Tuesday's sweep by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, livestock traders and market analysts expressed concerns that the potential deportation of undocumented workers from such raids could disrupt U.S. food production at a time when beef prices have soared and meat processors report a labor shortage. ICE agents detained about 74 to 76 workers out of roughly 140 at the Glenn Valley Foods plant, President Chad Hartmann said. Other workers did not show up on Wednesday because they felt afraid or traumatized, he said, adding that the facility's production dropped to about 20% of normal. Glenn Valley Foods sells steak, chicken and corned beef products to restaurants and grocery stores, according to its website. Retail beef prices have set records as the size of the U.S. cattle herd has declined to its lowest level in 70 years after a years-long drought raised feed costs. Consumer demand for steaks and hamburgers has stayed strong nevertheless. Glenn Valley Foods is trying to determine how long it will take to hire new employees, Hartmann said. "The hole that got punched into our business is staffing," he said. Livestock traders worried that immigration raids could slow meat companies' demand to buy cattle from farmers to process into beef, if the companies do not have enough workers. Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures came under pressure on Tuesday during the raid, after recently hitting records. "There's certainly going to be nervousness out there on where the labor situation goes, going forward," said Matt Wiegand, a commodity broker for risk management firm FuturesOne in Nebraska. Meatpackers still face an acute worker shortage, said Julie Anna Potts, president of the Meat Institute industry group. It worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when major companies such as Tyson Foods temporarily shut plants because of a lack of workers. Glenn Valley used E-Verify, a federal database used for checking employees' immigration status. Hartmann said Homeland Security told him on Wednesday that there was no better system. "We will have to continue to use it," he said. ICE said a criminal investigation was ongoing into what immigration officials called a large-scale employment of immigrants who are present in the U.S. illegally. Footage of the Glenn Valley raid released by ICE showed agents searching the plant, restraining workers' hands and ankles, and taking them into custody. ICE officers have been intensifying efforts in recent weeks to deliver on U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda of record-level deportations. Tensions boiled over in Los Angeles over the weekend when protesters took to the streets after ICE arrested migrants at Home Depot stores, a garment factory and a warehouse, according to rights advocates. On Tuesday night, demonstrators marched in New York, Atlanta and Chicago. More than half of all meatpacking workers in the U.S. are immigrants, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank. The Omaha World-Herald newspaper said on Tuesday that raids were also reported at local plants run by large meatpackers Tyson and JBS USA. Tyson and JBS told Reuters their facilities were not raided.
