Cattle Mixed at Midday
The nearby live cattle futures are currently up by 90 cents in April, but mixed within 20c of UNCH across the other nearby contracts. Reports had some $188 trades in the South and $190 bids in the North on Thursday. USDA had some light cash trade on Wednesday mostly near $186, but not enough to establish a trend for the week. Feeder cattle futures are trading mostly in the black, but within 30 cents of UNCH at midday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was another 39 cents stronger on 3/19 to $251.41.
Traders are looking for NASS to show March 1 on feed at 11.79m head, which would be 0.9% above last year if realized. Estimates for February placements range from a 4.5% increase to an 8.8% increase vs. Feb ’23. Feb marketings are expected to come in 3.8% over last year on average. The COF report release will be Friday afternoon.
USDA’s Export Sales report listed the week’s beef sales at 11k MT for the week of 3/14. That was slightly below the 11.2k MT sold last week and was down from the 18.6k MT during the same week last year. Beef commitments were up to 290.9k MT, which is now 8% behind last year’s pace.
USDA’s Boxed Beef prices increased by $1.04 in Choice and by $1.04 in Select this morning. USDA reported the week’s FI cattle slaughter at 358k head through Wednesday. That remains 7k head above last week’s pace, but is still 20k head behind the same week last year.
April 24 Cattle are at $188.775, up $0.975,
Jun 24 Cattle are at $184.975, up $0.200,
Aug 24 Cattle are at $183.800, up $0.100,
Cash Cattle Index was $185.400, from $185.00 last week
Mar 24 Feeder Cattle are at $250.925, up $0.675
April 24 Feeder Cattle are at $254.950, up $0.025
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.
