Market News

Live cattle mixed to start the week

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live cattle were mixed, feeders were lower waiting on direct business to develop. December live cattle closed $.45 lower at $226.60 and February live cattle closed $.10 higher at $229.57.  November feeder cattle closed $.85 lower at $341.10 and January feeder cattle closed $.60 lower at $335.75. 

Direct cash cattle trade activity was quiet Monday.  Showlists for the week are lower in Texas and Kansas, but steady in Nebraska.  Bids and asking prices didn’t surface.  Significant trade volume will likely be delayed until sometime Thursday or Friday. 

At the Sioux Falls Regional Cattle Auction in South Dakota, feeder steers and heifer sold with a firm to higher undertone.  The USDA says demand was good for the week’s offering.  Flesh condition was moderate to heavy.  There was also a large consignment of weaned, spring born calves, which sold on an active market.  Receipts were up on the week.  Feeder supply included 55 percent steers with 75 percent of the offering weighing more than 600 pounds.  Medium and Large 1 feeder steers 479 pounds brought $507 and feeder steers 576 pounds brought $436.  Medium and Large 1 feeder heifers 810 to 845 pounds brought $313 to $316.50 and feeder heifers 954 to 994 pounds brought $273 to $289. 

Boxed beef closed mixed with solid and light demand for moderate offerings.  Choice was $2.21 higher at $375.56 and Select was $.17 lower at $354.13.  The Choice/Select spread was $21.43. Estimated cattle slaughter was 106,000 head, up 4,000 on the week and up about 2,000 on the year. 

Lean hog futures finished the day higher on short covering and support from sharply higher pork values.  December lean hogs closed $.55 higher at $68.37 and February lean hogs closed $1.05 higher at $70.30. 

Cash hogs closed sharply lower with a very light negotiated run.  The slow start isn’t a big surprise.  Processors have leverage and continue to control the pace of business and have been moving needed numbers without having to get too aggressive in their procurement efforts.  Demand remains crucial to the market and while there have been some bright spots both globally and domestically, there are lingering concerns about long-term strength.  The industry is also monitoring the availability of market-ready hogs, which are ample, and hog weights. Barrows and gilts at the National Daily Direct closed $3.24 lower with a base range of $65 to $80 and a weighted average of $71.02.  Prices at the Regional Direct Markets were not reported due to confidentiality.

Butcher hog prices at the Midwest cash markets are $4 lower at $56. 

Pork values closed higher, up $2.47 at $82.97.  Most of the primals were higher and sharply higher.  Ribs, however, were lower. Estimated hog slaughter was 498,000 head, up 5,000 on the week and up about 18,000 on the year.