Market News

Cattle trade slow to develop

Texas has the first cattle bids of the week reported at 137.00, although this is unlikely to gather much attention with asking prices well above that level at 140.00 to 145.00 through the South. No bids or asking prices have been reported in the North so far. Trade is likely to be delayed until the end of the week and may even be pushed off until after the release of the cattle on feed report Friday afternoon. The cattle kill is estimated at 112,000 head, even with last week, but 1,000 less than last year.

Boxed beef cutout values are higher on choice and weak on select on light to moderate demand and offerings. Choice boxed beef was up 1.11 at 216.49, and select was down .37 at 209.99.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 27 lower to 45 points higher with only the front months in the red. Narrow gains developed with support in the deferred contracts as buyers focused on beef values moving higher, but at a much slower pace than what some would have desired. Traders appeared to be looking for additional long term trade activity to become steadily higher, and move away from the sharp triple-digit rallies, which may be more sustainable over time. This would allow cash markets to catch up as well as keep beef values more in line with market activity. October settled .27 lower at 139.97, and December was down .02 at 143.15.

Feeder cattle ended the session 102 points lower to 40 higher. Position taking developed with nearby short covering seen in October and December contracts. Trade volume remained light as the overall tone of the market is still steady firm given the underlying support in the cash and beef values. October settled .62 lower at 194.25, and November was down 1.02 at 191.42.

Feeder cattle receipts at the Gordon, Nebraska Livestock market totaled 2500 head. Compared to last week, 400 to 500 pound steers sold 1.00 to 5.00 higher, with no other comparisons. 400 pound heifers sold 10.00 to 11.00 higher while 500 pound heifers sold steady with no other comparisons. There was a good crowd on hand for mostly preconditioned calves. The bidding on Tuesday was moderate to good. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 530 pounds averaged 235.29 per hundredweight. 523 pound heifers brought 208.31.

Lean hogs settled 2 to 82 points lower. Trade was choppy and directionless with futures moving very little. Even though there was some additional moving back and forth through the morning the general lackluster interest seemed to allow most traders to focus on outside market shifts, and the ability to allow markets to wander to their own devices. December settled .82 lower at 67.02, and February was down .15 at 68.70.

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .27 higher at 70.68 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West is .24 higher at 70.60, and nationally the market was .01 lower at 70.47. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was steady from 63.00 to 64.00. Midwest hogs on a live basis were 1.00 higher to 4.00 lower from 46.00 to 52.00.

The pork carcass cutout value is 1.09 higher FOB plant at 89.64.

Weekend hog slaughter is expected to move well over 200,000 head, which will create the ability to move additional hogs out of the readily available supply and into inventory levels.

Wednesday’s hog slaughter was estimated by USDA at 417,000 head, 10,000 less than last week, and 3,000 less than last year.