
Fat cattle ended the day up 32 to 55 cents ahead of the monthly NASS update. Feeders closed the last trade day of the week up by 25 to 80 cents. Friday’s catch up cash trade was mostly near $155 and in the WCB. The week’s bulk price was mainly $150-151 in the South and $154-$155 in the North. The 11/16 CME Feeder Cattle Index was 41 cents higher to $175.39.
CoT data showed long liquidation from the managed money cattle traders through the week that ended 11/15. That reduced their net long by 12k contracts to 50,160. In feeder cattle, CFTC reported the funds held 10.27k longs and 16.88k shorts after a week of light new spec selling.
The monthly Cattle on Feed report from NASS showed 11.706m head were in 1,000+ capacity feedlots on 11/1. That was a 2.03% decrease from last year, but was up 252k head from October. Placements were down by 6.14% October to October. Cattle marketed in October were up just 0.6% on the year at 1.86m head. The trade was expecting to see a yr/yr decline of 1.7% on feed from 4.7% lighter placements.
Chinese customs data had 250k MT of beef imports during October, which set the year at 2.2 MMT. That is a yr/yr increase of 22% for the month and +13% for the YTD total.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices from the PM report were mixed with a $2.23 lighter Choice quote and a $1.09 higher Select. That tightened the Chc/Sel spread to $22.04 – the tightest since Sept 8th. USDA estimated the week’s FI cattle slaughter through Saturday as 674k head, a 5k head lead from last week and a 14k head lead compared to the same week last year.
Dec 22 Cattle closed at $153.075, up $0.325,
Feb 23 Cattle closed at $155.850, up $0.450,
Apr 23 Cattle closed at $159.250, up $0.350,
Jan 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $180.775, up $0.800
Mar 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $183.125, up $0.625
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes.