Market News

Beef and pork cutouts end the day higher: June 16, 2009

Live cattle contracts settled unchanged to 67 points lower on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. Main features included spreaders selling the deferred issues and buying forward months. Lower U.S. equities trading also pressured cattle futures according to Dow Jones Newswires. June was down .30 at 79.60, and August finished the session .45 lower at 80.37. Boxed beef cutout values ended the day higher on light to moderate demand and offerings. Choice beef was up 1.03 at 140.55, select boxes gained 1.39 at 133.43.Feeder cattle closed mostly lower on spillover pressure from the live pit along with bear spreading and sell stops. August closed at 96.55 down .65, and September was .32 lower at 97.07.

Receipts at the Joplin Regional Stockyards on Monday totaled 5070 head. Compared to last week steers trended steady to 2.00 higher, heifers were steady following last week’s sharp downturn. Demand and supply was moderate. Calves and yearlings showed the effects of lush, spring grass and most of the offering was in medium to fleshy conditions. Feeder steers medium and large 1, 212 head averaging 520 lbs traded at 109.20 per hundredweight. 161 heifers with a weighted average of 523 lbs brought 94.94.

Tuesday’s cattle slaughter was estimated at 129,000 head, 1,000 more than last week, and 3,000 greater than last year at this time. It was a pretty typical Tuesday in the feedlot trade, with just a few starter bids evident in the South at 79.00. Asking prices are generally 84+ in the South, and 134+ in the North. The overall movement of high value cuts remains sluggish at best with Father’s Day wholesale buying activity in the books for the most part. Retailers and packers are now focused on the fourth of July, but optimism is growing weak as the holiday approaches and the overall tone of the market hasn’t changed, according to DTN.

Barrows and gilts at the terminals trended 1.00 lower to 1.50 higher on a live basis from 33.00 to 38.50. The Missouri Direct base carcass meat price was steady from 48.00 to 52.00. Tuesday’s hog kill was estimated at 414,000 head, 2,000 more than last week and 16,000 head greater than a year ago. Iowa/Minnesota barrows and gilts closed .89 higher at 56.82, the West was up .97 at 56.96, and the East closed at 51.77 up .02. Slaughter continues heavy and country movement was relatively slow to start the week. Wednesday’s cash market is expected to be steady to firm.

Lean hogs settled mostly lower with early gains unable to hold throughout the session, but at the same time there was not a bearish tone to the market. The lack of ability for outside commodity markets to bounce back after Monday’s losses kept many traders inactive on the exchange. July finished .12 lower at 58.27, and August was down .30 at 58.10. Only October posted a .20 gain to finish at 66.95. Pork trading was slow, with light to moderate demand and offerings. The pork carcass cutout value was up .79 at 57.64.

Pork bellies ended 25 higher to 45 lower Buying stepped back into the near month contracts, but overall strength was noted in other contracts as well. July was up .25 at 59.15, and August was down .45 at 58.30.