TDA Market Recap July 6, 2009

AUSTIN – (July 6, 2009) For the week ending July 4, 2009, feeder cattle prices at Texas auctions were mostly steady to $3 lower per hundredweight in light holiday-week trade. Some early-week sales were as much as $5 higher. Fed cattle cash sales were also light with prices up from the previous week. Corn and grain sorghum markets declined after USDA reported higher-than-expected corn acres planted for 2009. Good harvest progress pushed wheat prices lower and cotton prices were higher on a decline in planted acres. As for futures markets, feeder cattle, finished cattle and cotton were higher, while wheat, corn and lumber were lower. Most of the state again experienced hot, dry weather during the week. However, parts of the Plains and Edwards Plateau received up to 2 inches of rain and isolated showers fell elsewhere. Topsoil moisture remains in very short to short supply statewide. Wheat harvest is 90 percent complete with most of the acreage rated in very poor to fair condition. Cotton planting neared completion, with 57 percent of the crop squaring and 17 percent setting bolls. The state’s corn crop is in mostly fair to good condition with 63 percent of the acreage tasseled. Grain sorghum planting is nearing completion. Pastures continued to suffer from the hot, dry weather and are reported in mostly very poor to fair condition.