Cattle Continue Fading into Month’s End
Nearby cattle futures are down by as much as 55 cents. Feb futures expire at the close, currently $2 under the April contract. April cattle are at a net $5.30 gain for the month’s move. Current feeder cattle futures are sitting another 52 cents to $1.50 in the red at midday. April feeders are up by a net $7.87 on the monthly chart. USDA confirmed some light cash trade on Wednesday near $182-$183, steady with last week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index for 2/27 was $246.80, another 33 cents stronger.
Export Sales data from the week of 2/22 had 12.2k MT of beef sales. That was a 3% drop wk/wk but was up 26% vs the 4-week average. USDA had Japan as the top buyer for the week. Shipments were 15.9k MT, for a yearly total of 117.4k MT (+8% yr/yr).
USDA’s Boxed Beef prices increased on Thursday morning with Choice up by 40 cents and Select up by $2.01. FI cattle slaughter for the week through Wednesday was 372k head vs 349k last week and 375k during the same week last year.
April 24 Cattle are at $185.850, down $0.275,
Jun 24 Cattle are at $181.700, down $0.475,
Aug 24 Cattle are at $180.850, down $0.450,
Cash Cattle Index was $183.000, from $179.00 last week
Mar 24 Feeder Cattle are at $249.150, down $0.450
April 24 Feeder Cattle are at $253.850, down $1.250
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
