Cattle Settle Higher on Wednesday

Live cattle prices ended the day with 42 to 67 cent gains in the front months. October options expire on Friday, with the delivery process beginning next Monday. Feeders led the way with a midweek recovery of as much as $2.12 for the front months. The Wednesday FCE auction had 1,557 head listed, with just 1 pen of NE steers sold at $144.25. USDA confirmed very light trade on Wednesday anywhere from $143 to $147 – the bulk of the Northern market is gravitating towards $145. The CME Feeder Cattle Index for 10/4 was 9 cents weaker at $175.58. 

Monthly converted Census data had August beef exports as 323.6m lbs. That would be a record for the month, and sets the full year total as 2.417b lbs. USDA is assuming 2022 beef shipments will reach 3.561b lbs. That implies a 286m lb monthly export for the remaining 4 months. Just Feb ’22, and June ’21 were below that mark in the last 17 months. 

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower on Wednesday afternoon with a 98 cent drop for Choice and a $2.69 drop in Select. The Chc/Sel spread widened to $27.84. USDA estimated the week’s FI cattle slaughter at 383,000 head through Wednesday. That is up 3,000 from last week and is 20,000 more than the same week last year. 

Oct 22 Cattle  closed at $144.675, up $0.475,

Dec 22 Cattle  closed at $147.925, up $0.425,

Feb 23 Cattle  closed at $151.750, up $0.500,

Oct 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $176.550, up $1.900

Nov 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $177.325, up $2.125