Al6 : Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 8, 2d03 GRAIN, CATTLE, HOG, & MILK BFP FUTURES MARKETS Markets Courtesy of Chicago Board and Mercantile Exchange Closing Bids; Thursday. November 6. 2003 Com tylpnth Opening {High [Eo w Closing (Big 2381 239 T 234 [ 2341/2 | 234 f olMar ] 244 244 1/41 240 [ 240 1/2 r 240 [ 04May 247 248 1/41243 1/4 [ 244 244 1/2 | 04Jufc[. 248 1/2 250 [ 246 247 1/2 247 j OptSpJ 246 r 246 {243 1/2 [ 243 1/2 r 245 1/2 246; 242 2431/2 243 f ' ~' 249 249 1/4 [248”1/2 248 \Ji\ jf Pf T f 2531/2 n p OSjul l 255 |2561/2 f 255 f 256 1/2 [' [ ffilt “ r r [245 3/4 n r ' T Mbhlli Opening [High {Low Clbsihg - [ Soybeans {Month (Opening (High |Low ; Closing 03Nov ] 770 771 1/2 757 j 757 7581/2 04Jan [ 778 779 7641 766 764 i 04Mar 771 773 7581/2! 761 7581/2 04\Iay 737 s 740 731 731 733 | 04Jul 724 729 720 7221/2 723 ( 1 04 Aug 705 707 7001/2 701 | 04Sep 658! 660 653 1/4 6531/4 04Nov 596 j 598 1 590 j 594 5931/2 dsjah 600[ 600 j 5971 597 05Mar i { 589 nj Month Opening!High {Low | Closing , f Soybean Meal iHighjLow [ _ Closing OgflgC [ 248.3 249.3 j243.61~ 244.0 j 04j[anj 246.3 [247.2 [241.61 jOfolar! ' 243.0 245.5 239.01 !o'^ 233.01234.5|229.0 228.0 j 230.01224.0 f 220.0 221.0'215.5[215.6 b 215.5 a I 206 0 206.0 205.0 [ 205.0 i ) 185.0 180.0 j 180.0 l 181.0 ! 182.0 178.01 178.5 179.0 j 180.0 1 180.0 178.5 j 178.0 b '178.5 a 1178.51 [ 177.5 b 178.0 a 177.8' |o4Ksay °.4Sep cr4oct O^Dec OSJan fosml^ 185.0 f 181.d[ ■*" * -— I —r “-r ■ Opening High Month Oct 31,2003 BLOCK CHEESE PRICES DECLINE SHARPLY • CME blocks fall to $1.4850/ pound. • Butter holding firmly. • CME futures are lower. Block and barrel cheese prices at the Chicago Mercantile Ex change finally gave in to lower prices. Block prices fell from 242.0 | 239.2 , 229.2 I 224.8 f Low | Closing ISettlelNet Chg $1.60 per pound on Monday, Oct. 27 to $1.4850 by week’s end. Bar rels fell from $1.50 per pound on Monday to $1.4575. There wasn’t much in the way of actually trades, but it is apparent that there were more offers to sell than bids to buy. Much of this price decline was expected. Cheese yields and milk production has been recovering ‘ (Settle , |Net Chg 234 1/4 ( 240 1/4 2441/41 i 247 1/4 1243 1/2 p 243 1/41 248 1/2 2531/2 256 1/2 [245 3/4 [Settle . | [Net c Hg; -74, iSettle J 757 3/4 765 (759 3/4 7321 Unch 1722 3/41 +22 701 ; ! 6531/4 1 |593 3/4 I" ' 597' 589 NetJQhgj Settle , taps* M 244.21 244.3 241~6 1241.8 239.1 [ 239.0 | 229.1 S 229.0 | 224.0 | 224.41 215.5 i 205.01 180.51 178.8 and is more than adequate to meet current “fresh” market needs. As the fear of market shortages disappeared, cheese buyers held back in anticipation of future price reductions. That gets the ball rolling in a down ward spiral. Tempering the rate of price decline, however, is the fact that buyers are in the market in preparation for holiday needs. USDA released their estimates of January through August com mercial disappearance. This is a measure of consumption, or actu al product eaten by consumers. They are based on USDA esti mates of production, imports, change in inventory, government removals, and exports. I have my own estimates based on a new Penn State dairy industry model. Differences between my esti mates and USDA estimates are likely because of different mea sures of imports. USDA shows butter consump tion through August was 0.7 per cent behind a year ago. My num- Lean Hogs Date 11/05/03 *CASH* 11/06/03 Dec 03 11/06/03 Feb 04 11/06/03 11/06/03 11/06/03 11/06/03 11/06/03 11/06/03 11/06/03 -24 -16 -10 -10 -12 Composite Volume Open_lnt 11/05/03 5977 42674 -10 ” -4 1 Live Cattle Date -2' 1 l/05/03*CASH* 0104001040010400 +205 11/06/03 Nov 03 9990 9990 9990 9990+150 11/06/03 Dec 03 9560 9560 9560 9560 + 150 11/06/03 Jan 04 9310 9400 9300 9400 + 150 11/06/03 Feb 04 9095 9115 9075 9115+150 11/06/03 Apr 04 8280 8320 8247 8305 +9B 11/06/03 Jun 04 7605 7640 7580 7632+100 11/06/03 Aug 04 7445 7450 7400 7425 +2O 11/06/03 Oct 04 7500 7525 7480 7490 +4O 11/06/03 Dec 04 7640 7640 7640 7640 unch [Net Chg -80 -62 Composite Volume Open_lnt 11/05/03 14614 111675 Pork Bellies Date +4O +2O +l6 11/05/03 *CASH* 0 780078007800 unch 11/06/03 Feb 04 8775 891587658880 +l4O 11/06/03 Mar 04 8800 880087608780 +l7O 11/06/03 May 04 8900 891089008900 +l3O 11/06/03 Jul 04 9000 915090009150 +5O 11/06/03 Aug 04 9050 905090509050 +l5O +80! +2O Composite Volume Open_lnt 11/05/03 317 1850 -18 -24 -24 Oats -14 -16 MiA 142 1/41 144 140 1/4 kf “i47[- i 4 877; 1481/4 148 1/2 146 1/21 148 1/2 ; _ T . ’ |lsl'l/2~a. foiS^ep”! -Ioi [o4i>ec [ -25 -15 j ""■-131 -51 __ | Unch [Month Opening jHigh (Low ~ -■ ■**LT.r r V*’ ~ , w Previous Previous Open High Low Last Chge Vo|ume ope „ 0 0 4173 22056 1341 11910 0 492049204920 5330 536552805317 5857591558155892 6005 607059656062 6200622061606220 6500 653064506525 6207625062056242 6047 608060476080 5397 539753605395 5365536553655365 Apr 04 May 04 Jun 04 Jul 04 Aug 04 Oct 04 Dec 04 , ¥ . , , _ Previous Previous Open High Low Last Chge Vo lun,eOpen_lnt 0 0 144 603 6755 47102 167 1074 4380 31396 1817 16793 1123 10770 214 3589 14 346 0 2 ~ ip l r ¥ Previous Previous Open High Low Last Chge Vo|umeopen 0 0 314 1637 0 122 -2 50 0 32 1 8 Opening (High bers show it is more like -2.4 percent. American cheese con sumption through August was es timated by USDA to be 0.6 per cent behind a year ago. My figure is -1.6 percent. Finally, other cheese, an estimate of Italian cheese consumption, was estimat ed by USDA to be 1.8 percent ahead of a year ago. My estimate is 1.4 percent, almost the same. Both my estimates and that of USDA suggest that consumption of key dairy products for the first eight months of this year have not been very exciting. That may explain why cash market prices for cheese are now showing signs of weakness. This is what econo mists call “market fundamen tals.” Class 111 futures at the Chica go Mercantile Exchange indicate that November futures are down from more than $l4 per CWT in the prior month to $13.16 per CWT. December futures are at $11.90 per CWT. Expect both of these to decline some in the weeks ahead. rrrr t-* t tit**. +75 +25 +35 * ' J&V* ■! 1 t-bw v, 143 147 1 L_ 147I 47 i 148 1/2 [ Unch i I -21 144 150 n| ; |_ 151 n| 1 151 j i Closing ;Settle (Net Chg Class 111 futures for the first six months of 2004 averaged $11.44 per CWT. For all of 2004 they averaged $11.94, still at a pretty good level. Producers who are interested in protecting milk prices may want to consider look ing at these prices since they are close to 5-year averages. Average Farm Feed Costs for Handy Reference To help fanners across the state to have handy reference of commodity input costs in their feeding operations for DHIA record 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 Pennsylvania. Remember, these are averages, so you will need to adjust your figures up or down accord ing to your location and the quality of your crop. Corn, No.2y 2.57 bu., 4.60 cwt. Wheat, N 0.2 3.39 bu., 5.65 cwt. Barley, N 0.3 —1.94 bu., 4.14 cwt. Oats, No 2 —1.84 bu., 5.73 cwt Soybeans, No.l 5.36 bu., 8.94 cwt Ear Com 65.41 ton, 3.27 cwt. Alfalfa Hay —131.25 ton, 6.56 cwt. Mixed Hay —131.25 ton, 6.56 cwt. ■tgv'Hmthr Hay *• 136.254mv6abcivtr r • 1431 “+42 j +4 1 ,151 1/21 Unch, 1501 Unclv 5020 769 1754 580 325 220 40