Market News

A few cattle trade

A few dressed sales of cattle surfaced in parts of Nebraska and Iowa on Friday afternoon at $205.00, 9.00 to 10.00 higher than last week. Trade remained generally slow as bullish feedlot managers hold for more money. Sharply higher futures are no doubt encouraging in that regard. Asking prices appear to be around 136.00 in the South, and 200.00 plus in the North. Light to moderate trade action is expected to develop late into the day. The cattle kill for the week was estimated at 576,000 head. 19,000 more than last week and 12,000 greater than last year.

Boxed beef cutout values are firm on choice and lower on select on light to moderate demand and moderate offerings. Choice beef is .47 higher at 211.69, and select is .87 lower at 206.36.

Live cattle contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled 167 to 300 points higher. Front month contracts quickly rebounded from early morning losses and posted strong triple digit gains. The support created some underlying support going into the weekend despite the softness in boxed beef values. And created some expectations buyers may remain willing to step back into the market early next week given the moves through the first half of October. October settled 3.00 higher at 135.95, and December was up 2.87 at 139.42.

Feeder cattle ended the session 277 to 402 points higher. Firm gains developed through the complex with triple digit advances holding in all contracts. Despite the losses in boxed beef values, the ability to draw buyer support back in to the market at the end of the week could spark some additional momentum through the second half of October. October settled 4.02 higher at 193.80, and November was up 4.25 at 190.15.

Feeder cattle receipts at Missouri Auctions this week totaled 20,180 head. Compared to last week, feeder steers sold 10.00 to 15.00 higher and heifers sold 5.00 to 10.00 higher. Markets continued to recover some of the extreme losses of the last couple of months. Some early week auctions quoted much larger price gains as last week’s turnaround came after their sale day so essentially those barns saw a bigger jump to catch back up. The supply of feeders was mostly made up of calves which is very typical for this time of year. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 575 pounds brought 207.34. 522 pound heifers traded at an average of 193.46.

Lean hogs settled 15 to 125 points lower as the focus on cash market pressure seemed to be creating some underlying concerns that eroding market weakness could be adding to the overall softness of the entire market. December settled 1.25 lower at 65.57, and February was down .67 at 68.45.

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 2.14 lower at 68.81 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was down 1.46 at 68.71, and nationally the market was 1.14 lower at 68.56. Missouri direct base carcass meat price is steady at 64.00. Midwest hogs on a live basis are lightly tested at steady prices from 47.00 to 60.00.

The pork carcass value was 1.49 higher at 89.31 FOB plant. The belly primal was 4.42 higher.

Pork’s farm-to-retail spread in September totaled $3.12, the largest average since March and 8.5 cents greater than the early fall of 2014. Retailers would appear to have plenty of room to feature pork this month and beyond.

The weekly hog slaughter was estimated at 2,318,000 head, 28,000 more than last week, and 134,000 greater than last year.