Friday feeder cattle trading pushed the board down by as much as $5.57 for the low. Futures firmed up for the close but were still down by $3.12 to $4.30. Fat cattle were also triple digits lower on Friday with losses of $0.87 to $1.77. The triple digit fade into the CoF report flipped futures net lower for the week with June fats down 70 cents Fri/Fri and May feeders down by $2.22. USDA cited the week’s cash trade as mostly near $188 in the South, a $2 increase for the week, and mostly near $190 in the North. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was another 41 cents higher on 3/20 to $251.82.
Weekly CFTC data showed cattle spec traders dropped a few longs during the week that ended 3/19. That left them 920 contracts less net long at 62,391. The funds were net new buyers in feeders for the week, growing their net long by 1,114 contracts to 11,453.
The NASS CoF update showed 11.838 million head on feed on March 1st. That was a 1.3% increase over Mar ’23 compared to the 0.9% increase expected. Placements also came in over the expectations with 1.89m head placed in Feb. That was a 9.7% increase yr/yr, as the top end of estimates was +8.8%. Feb marketings were 1.793m head, or 3.4% above last year compared to the +3.8% average trade guess.
USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower on Friday afternoon as Choice fell by $3.01 and Select was $2.26 weaker. USDA reported the week’s beef output at 500.4 million lbs. That was down 1m from last week, and was 2.5% under the same week last year. Cattle slaughter was 598k head for the week, also 3k head below last week and 4.8% behind the same week last year. The YTD totals were shown at 5.96 billion lbs and 7.133m head, compared to 6.211b lbs and 7.54m head last year.
Apr 24 Cattle closed at $187.500, down $0.875,
Jun 24 Cattle closed at $182.900, down $1.600,
Aug 24 Cattle closed at $181.500, down $1.775,
Mar 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $249.950, down $0.925
Apr 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $251.500, down $3.125
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 Disclosure Policy here.
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