Cattle Fall Weaker on Thursday
Live cattle futures slipped back on Thursday as cash is coming in steady to weaker this week. Contracts were down 7 to 50 cents at the close. Cash trade has settled in near $196-197 in the south this week, with slow Northern trade and $195-196 bids. Thursday morning’s online Fed Cattle Exchange auction from Central Stockyards, showed sales on 3 lots at $197 using their BidTheGrid™ method. Feeders were the leaders to the downside, pressured by the delay of tariffs and a rally in corn, as futures were down $1.22 to $2.07. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down $1.78 on March 5, with the average price at $276.09.
After a couple days of trade talk, President Trump is putting a pause on all tariffs that fall under the USMCA trade agreement umbrella from Mexico and Canada for another month. Canada is also pushing back the planned tariffs on $125 billion of US goods back to April 2.
USDA Export Sales data showed a total of 13,393 MT in beef bookings in the week of 2/27, a 3-week low and the third lowest for the MY. South Korea was the top buyer of 3,300 MT, with 2,900 MT sold to Japan. Shipments were at 13,203 MT, the second lowest this MY. The top destination was Japan at 3800 MT, with 3,400 MT to South Korea.
Beef exports during January totaled 230.19 million lbs according to Census data converted to a carcass basis. That was the lowest January total since 2017 and down 11.1% from December.
USDA’s National Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Thursday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread narrowing to $9.61. Choice boxes were down 42 cents at $313.12/cwt, with Select 98 cents higher at $303.51. Thursday’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 122,000 head but the USDA, taking the weekly total to 467,000 head. That is 10,000 head above the previous week, but still down 19,969 head from the same week last year.
Apr 25 Live Cattle closed at $196.275, down $0.275,
Jun 25 Live Cattle closed at $192.625, down $0.075,
Aug 25 Live Cattle closed at $190.975, down $0.300,
Mar 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $274.025, down $2.075,
Apr 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $274.425, down $1.650,
May 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $273.850, down $1.225,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder 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.