Live cattle futures ended Thursday with contracts rallying off of early weakness, up 15 cents to $1.05. This morning’s Central Stockyards FCE online auction showed no sales on the 1,100 head. Bids ranged from $179-182, as reserve prices, or asks were $184 across the board. Cash trade so far this week has been slow, with a few sale of $184-185 starting in the South today and Northern bids of $185. Feeder cattle futures were up anywhere from a tick to 92 cents on Thursday as September rolled off the board. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 10 cents at $244.30 on September 25.
Cold Storage data showed August 31 beef stocks at 395.186 million lbs. That was slightly below the same time last year, while also being a 10-year low, and was a 1.83% drop from the end of July.
Export Sales data showed beef sales at just 10,061 MT in the week that ended on 9/19, a 7-week low. The largest buyer was China, with purchases of 2,100 MT, as Japan bought 1,700 MT. Export shipments were 12,493 MT in that week, back down from the previous week. The lead destination was South Korea at 3,100 MT, with 2,600 MT shipped to Japan.
USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower again in the Thursday PM report. Choice boxes were down $1.80 to $296.37/cwt, with Select 91 cents lower @ $282.37. The Chc/Select spread tightened to $14.00. USDA estimated Thursday’s federally inspected cattle slaughter at 124,000, taking the weekly total to 487,000 head. That is 6,000 head below the previous week and 17,007 head below the same week last year.
Oct 24 Live Cattle closed at $184.100, up $1.050,
Dec 24 Live Cattle closed at $184.825, up $0.500,
Feb 25 Live Cattle closed at $185.650, up $0.150,
Sep 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $245.400, up $0.025,
Oct 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $246.925, up $0.900,
Nov 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $244.975, up $0.925,
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