The Thursday session ended with cattle prices $0.90 to $1.40 lower on the board. The front months through Feb ’23 closed down by triple digits – though October is near-er to the cash market. USDA confirmed light cash trade activity in the South near $143 on Thursday. Northern deals were higher compared to earlier trading in the week, with the bulk establishing near $145, from $144-$147. Bids on the Thursday FCE auction came up some for 2 sold pens, with one at $143 and $145 for the other. The other cattle went unsold from $143 bids to $144 asks. Front month feeder cattle futures ended the day with a 2 cent gain in Sep going into next Thursday’s expiration. The other front months closed $1.25 to $2.27 lower. The 9/21 CME Feeder Cattle Index was $179.75 after a $1.65 bounce.
FAS reported beef export sales from the week that ended 9/15 were 15,193 MT. That was even to slightly above las week and was just 4% lighter yr/yr. China was the top buyer. Beef exports from the report were 22% higher wk/wk to 18,621 MT. South Korea and China were the top destinations.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were weaker in the PM report with a sharp $4.03 drop in Select to $222.11. That moved the Chc/Sel spread back up to $26.29 as Choice was only down by 73 cents. USDA estimated the week’s FI cattle slaughter at 509k head through Thursday. That is 5,000 head above last week’s pace and is up 28k head from the same week last year.
Oct 22 Cattle closed at $144.850, down $1.025,
Dec 22 Cattle closed at $149.350, down $1.400,
Feb 23 Cattle closed at $153.775, down $1.125,
Cash Cattle Indexwas $142.000, from $142.00 last week
Sep 22 Feeder Cattle closed at $178.200, up $0.025
Oct 22 Feeder Cattle closed at $177.975, down $1.250
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