Live cattle recovered some early losses on Thursday to close with 37 cent to $1.17 gains. No delivery notices were issued against April futures on Thursday. A little cash trade was picked up today, with some light $182 reported in the South, a $2 drop on the week. Northern action has been slow so far. This morning’s Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showing no sales on the 1,502 head listed, with bids ranging from $181-182 and asks in the $184-185 range. Feeders tagged along for the ride on Thursday, with gains of 90 cents to $1.62. The CME Feeder Cattle index on April 9th was down another $1.84 to $243.65.
Weekly Export data showed a drop from last week at 13,637 MT for the week that ended on 4/4. Shipments were tallied at 13,859 MT, an increase from the week prior. The WASDE update from this morning showed projected 2024 US beef production up 130 million lbs from the March report, with the increase coming in quarters 2-4 citing higher slaughter and weights.
USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Thursday afternoon report. Choice was up 14 cents to $298.37, with Select 87 cent lower at $297.15. That widened the Chc/Sel spread a little to $3.22. Estimated cattle slaughter was pegged at 124,000 head for Thursday by the USDA, taking the week to date total to 482,000 head. That was an 8,000 head increase from the previous week and is now down 3,574 head from the same week last year.
Apr 24 Live Cattle closed at $180.250, up $1.175,
Jun 24 Live Cattle closed at $173.900, up $1.050,
Aug 24 Live Cattle closed at $171.450, up $0.800,
Apr 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $239.175, up $0.900,
May 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $238.150, up $1.625,
Aug 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $248.950, up $1.350,
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.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
