Al6-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 28, 2002
GRAIN, CATTLE, HOG,
& MILK BFP
FUTURES MARKETS
Markets Courtesy of Chicago Board and Mercantile Exchange
Closing Bids: Thursday, December 26, 2002
Com
12/24/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
*CASH*
MAR 03
MAY 03
JUL 03
SEP 03
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
DEC
MAR
MAY
JUL
DEC
Total
12/23/02
Soybeans
12/24/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
*CASH*
JAN 03
MAR 03
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
Total
12/23/02
Soybean Meal
12/24/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
*CASH*
JAN 03
MAR 03
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12 25/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
1 ' '26/02
Total
12/23/02
Dec. 20,2002
HEADING HOME
FROM MOLDOVA
• Milk production slows.
• November butter and cheese in
ventories higher.
• Work in the village is complete!
I’ve finished my work in the vil
lage of Ignatei, Moldova. As 1 men
tioned last week, I’m doing volunteer
work for Citizen’s Network for For
eign Affairs (CNFA). I’m helping a
one-year-old dairy cooperative devel
High
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Volume Qpen_lnt
437573
High
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Open
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Volume Open_lnt
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Volume Open_lnt
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op a marketing plan. I completed my
assignment and the co-op board ac
cepted my marketing plan. Now I
have one more day before I head
back to the good old USA!
The markets were largely neutral
on reaction to USDA’s Milk Produc
tion and Cold Storage reports. The
November Milk Production report
showed production for 20 major
dairy states up 1.8 percent from a
year ago. This represents a slowdown
in the rate, of grow th in -the.railk-sup-
Low
2456
2416
2440
2476
2444
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2474
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5625
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1578
1658
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1622
1590
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1578
Lean Hogs
Date
12/24/02 *CASH*
12/26/02 Feb 03
12/26/02 Apr 03
12/26/02 May 03
12/26/02 Jim 03
12/26/02 Jul 03
12/26/02 Aug 03
12/26/02 Oct 03
12/26/02 Dec 03
12/26/02 Feb 04
Chge
unch
unch
+ 4
+ 2
+4
Last
2456
2426
2456
2486
2452
+ 4
+ 6
+ 4
+4
unch
2424
2482
2502
2510
2404
Composite Volume Open_lnt
12/23/02 204 38565
Live Cattle
Date
Chge
unch
-70
-56
Last
5625
5656
5622
5546
5520
5440
5264
5104
5140
5154
4852
Site by Barchart.com
Pork Bellies
Date
Chge
unch
-36
-26
1643
1635
1617
1581
1535
1530
1528
1536
1543
1552
1578
Oats
12/24/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
12/26/02
-7
-3
-10
Total
12/23/02
ply. However, cow numbers continue
to grow. States that had positive
growth in cow numbers include Ari
zona, California, Idaho, lowa, New
Mexico, New York, and Ohio.
The November Cold Storage re
port also had some bad news. Butter
inventories in November were up 135
percent from a year ago to 136.3 mil
lion pounds. American cheese inven
tories were up 8 percent from a year
ago to 474.4 million pounds, and
Other cheese inventories were up 10
percent in November to 200.9 million
pounds. It is surprising that cheese
and butter inventories can be so high
given the slowdown in milk produc
tion. This is likely due to a combina
tion of weak demand and some im
ports.
Life in the city of Chisinau is very
modern and sophisticated. I’ll be at
tending a Russian ballet this after
noon. There is a world-famous win
ery just outside of town. It is very
different in the villages. There are
good opportunities to help the villag
ers in Moldova with rural economic
development. CNFA has an agribusi
ness program designed to help devel
op sustainable businesses and coop
- eratives. A ««« m.
12/24/02 *CASH* 0 717971797179 unch
12/26/02 Dec 02 7535 753574907510 -10
12/26/02 Feb 03 7930 794578857920 +5
12/26/02 Apr 03 7805 781077807792 -5
12/26/02 Jun 03 7200 721071827205 unch
12/26/02 Aug 03 7007 702070007017 +5
12/26/02 Oct 03 7160 716071477152 +22
Composite Volume Open_lnt
12/23/02 433 112153
12/24/02 *CASH* 0 8000 8000 8000 +4OO
12/26/02 Feb 03 8925 8935 87958902 +52
12/26/02 Mar 03 8770 878086608750 +25
12/26/02 May 03 8820 889087808800 +4O
12/26/02 Jul 03 8830 885087658850+110
12/26/02 Aug 03 8700 870087008700 unch
Composite Volume Open_lnt
12/23/02 31 2768
*CASH*
MAR 03
MAY 03
JUL 03
SEP 03
DEC 03
MAR 04
Life in Moldovan villages became
even harder after the fall of the Sovi
et Union. The villagers had become
accustomed to life under a command
economy. Now, they are supposed to
think for themselves and seek out
profitable alternatives. That is what
the agribusiness program is trying to
do, train the villagers.
Many of the older pensioners now
have very little to live on. Many
young people flee the village for bet
ter opportunities elsewhere. But the
villages need young, enterprising,
and educated farmers to jump-start
the rural economy. Many would pre
fer to stay if they had better opportu
nities. The purpose of my project was
to help a young cooperative develop
so that they can generate hard cash
to earn a living.
People in the villages are very nice
and friendly. They invited me into
their homes and offered me all their
food and wine. I very much appreci
ated their hospitality. The villagers
were happy to see me and they had a
positive image of the U.S.
The concept of a cooperative is
(Turn to Page Al 9)
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6360 644563426435 +7O
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6285 637562806372 +62
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Average Farm Feed
Costs for Handy
Reference
To help farmers across the state to have
handy reference of commodity input costs
in their feeding operations for DHIA re
cord sheets or to develop livestock feed
cost data, here’s last week’s average costs
of various ingredients as compiled from
regional reports across the state of Penn-
sylvania.
Remember, these are averages, so you
will need to adjust your figures up or
down according to your location and the
quality of your crop.
Corn, No,2y 2.99 bu , 5.34 cwt.
Wheat, N 0.2 3 43 bu., 5.66 cwt.
Barley, N 0.3 2.07 bu., 4.42 cwt
Oats, No 2 1.90 bu., 5.91 cwt
Soybeans, No 1 5.67 bu., 9.47 cwt.
Ear Com 86.29 ton, 4.32 cwt.
Alfalfa Hay 147.50 ton, 7.38 cwt.
Mixed Hay 145.00 ton, 7.25 cwt.
Timothy Hay 140.50 ton, 7.03 cwt.
52984
31110
17899
5602
1106
357
130
176
10
Chge
unch
+ 4
+ 10
+ 10
unch
+ 4
unch