Dec 14 2017

Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary Posted 6 years 126 days ago by

Feeder cattle auctions mixed; futures up. Formula trades lower; Beef prices down. Cotton prices up. Grains and soybeans mixed. Milk futures down. Crude oil up; Natural gas down. Stock markets down.

Cattle: Texas feeder cattle auctions were mixed, with instances of steady to $5 lower and steady to $10 higher. January Feeder cattle futures were up 60 cents, closing at $146.25 per hundredweight (cwt). The Texas fed cattle cash trade was not active today. December Fed cattle futures were higher, gaining 62 cents to close at $115.65 per cwt. Wholesale boxed beef values were down, with Choice grade losing $1.44 to close at $201.04 per cwt and Select grade losing $1.33 to close at $183.69 per cwt. Estimated cattle harvest for the week totaled 475,000, down 2,000 from last week’s total and up 15,000 from last year’s total. Year-to-date harvest is up 3.26%.

Cotton: Cotton prices were up, closing at 73.50 cents per pound and March cotton futures gaining 1.20 cents to close at 75.33 cents per pound.

Corn and Grain Sorghum: Corn prices were steady, closing at $3.56 per bushel. December corn futures were down, losing a penny, closing at $3.36 per bushel. Grain Sorghum cash prices were down, losing a penny to close at $5.64 per cwt.

Wheat: Wheat prices  were up, gaining a penny to close at $3.59 per bushel. December wheat futures were up, gaining 4 cents to close at $4.03 per bushel.

Milk: Milk prices were down, with December Class III milk losing a dime to close at $15.51 per cwt.

Stock Markets and Crude Oil: Stock markets were down, with all three major indexes showing losses. January Crude oil futures were up 44 cents to close at $57.04 per barrel.

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From Agri-Pulse:

Republicans reach deal on tax cuts with key farm benefits

Congressional Republicans say they reached agreement on a final tax bill that will provide a new 20-percent deduction for pass-through income from farms and small businesses. 

The agreement, which the House and Senate are expected to take up early next week, also calls for doubling the estate tax exemption and will include key expensing provisions that farm groups sought to preserve and expand, lawmakers said. 

They said the agreement also would allow deduction of state and local taxes, including income and property taxes, up to $10,000, a concession to lawmakers in high-tax states that could also benefit farmers.

Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he was confident the legislation would reduce farmers’ tax bills. 

“Under the banner of predictability and stability, I think we’ve made some good progress,” Roberts said. 

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on his Twitter feed that the tax cuts "would make a tremendous Christmas present for Americans, including those in agriculture. Most family farms are small businesses, and they need relief to provide for their families and to reinvest in their own operations."

The pass-through deduction is designed to keep taxes on small businesses in line with the corporate tax rate, which would be cut from 35 percent to 21 percent under the deal, slightly higher than the 20 percent rate included in the bills passed earlier by the House and Senate. The lower corporate rate would take effect in 2018, not 2019, as was in the Senate-passed bill.

The Senate bill included a 23-percent pass-through deduction but that was lowered during negotiations between House and Senate Republicans this week.

Most farms are organized as sole proprietorships, partnerships and S corporations and taxed at individual rates, which currently range from 10 percent to 39.6 percent. 

The agreement would set a new top rate of 37 percent. Coupled with the deduction, that would create an effective top rate of 29.6 percent, said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

“It’s not my definition of perfect, but this will still be a strong, pro-growth tax package,” said Johnson. 

Still unclear is how the 20-percent deduction would be applied to farmer cooperatives. Both the House and Senate bill would repeal the Section 199 deduction that co-ops either pass on to members or retain for internal improvements. 

A provision that Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., inserted into the Senate bill would allow co-ops to use the 20-percent deduction, but that wouldn’t fully replace the Section 199 deduction, which is applied to domestic production activities, a broader base than taxable income. Thune was seeking to increase the base to which the new deduction would apply. 

The House-passed bill would have repealed the estate tax after 2023, but the Senate only doubled the exemption, and that is the provision that will be in the final version, said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.