Cattle Rallies Back on Wednesday
Live cattle futures rallied back on the Wednesday session, with contracts up $1.70 to $2.70. Cash trade has trickled in at $208 in the North so far, down $2-4 from last week. Southern sales are coming in at $205-206, down $2-3 from the week prior. The Wednesday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction form Central Stockyards showed no sales on the 1,422 head offered, with bids at $202. Feeder cattle futures were $2.40 to $3.00 higher on the Wednesday session, taking back some recent weakness. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 42 cents from the day prior at $279.03 on February 4.
December beef exports converted from Census data to a carcass basis were 258.9 million lbs, which was up 2.6% from the December 2023 total and 2.3% larger than in November.
USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Wednesday PM report, with the Chc/Sel spread @ $11.01. Choice boxes fell $5.39 to $325.34/cwt, with Select $3.08 lower at $314.33. USDA estimated the Wednesday federally inspected cattle slaughter at 121,000 head, with the week to date total at 358,000 head. That was 4,000 head below last week and down 16,717 head from the same week last year.
Feb 25 Live Cattle closed at $203.600, up $1.725,
Apr 25 Live Cattle closed at $201.300, up $2.650,
Jun 25 Live Cattle closed at $195.900, up $2.675,
Mar 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $270.725, up $2.475,
Apr 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $270.475, up $2.850,
May 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $268.800, up $3.000,
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.