(Reuters) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which issues thousands of daily, weekly and monthly reports that provide traders with data on everything from the price of hogs in Des Moines, Iowa, to how many soybeans China buys each week, pulled the plug on those reports during the federal government shutdown.
USDA’s daily market and statistical reports, including Agricultural Marketing Service daily market news updates, are suspended.
Among the daily reports stopped are: U.S. daily pork report FOB plant; boxed beef cut-out values; Midwest daily hog reports; Pacific Northwest grain ships loading at Portland; and Minneapolis spring wheat cash prices.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
CME Group said it may have to modify settlement procedures for its cash-settled dairy, lean hogs, live cattle and feeder cattle contracts as settlement is based on USDA Market News Service reports.
U.S. weekly reports on grain inspections, U.S. export sales and daily export announcements are suspended.
National Agricultural Statistics Service reports will not be published and the important Oct. 11 U.S. crop production report and the monthly World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimate could be delayed depending on how long the shutdown lasts.
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service and Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration remain open. Meat and grain inspectors stay on the job.
