Feeder cattle look to extend the bounce with another 22 to 37 cent gains past the Jan contract – which is down by 10 cents so far. Cheaper corn is the driver. Fat cattle are trading red with losses of 35 to 57 cents. Thursday’s FCE auction saw no sales between $153-154 bids and $155-156 asks for the 1,541 head listed. USDA confirmed some light $155 trade in the South on Wednesday, with Northern deals from $157-158 (steady to +$3) and $245 in the beef. The 11/29 CME Feeder Cattle Index was $178.40, down by 45 cents.
USDA reported 15.4k MT of beef was sold for export during the week that ended 11/24. That was 19% above last week, but down 29% from the same week last year. China was the top buyer with 7.2k MT. Beef shipments for the week were 15,750 MT for a YTD total of 858k MT.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices from Wednesday morning were 23 cents higher in Choice and $1.97 stronger in Select. USDA has the week to date cattle slaughter estimated at 384k head. That is down 2,000 from last week but up from 369k during the same week last year.
Dec 22 Cattle are at $152.550, down $0.525,
Feb 23 Cattle are at $154.900, down $0.775,
April 23 Cattle are at $158.775, down $0.500,
Jan 23 Feeder Cattle are at $180.300, down $0.175
Mar 23 Feeder Cattle are at $183.550, up $0.100
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.
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