Midday cattle futures are working 17 to 42 cents lower in the front months, though the deferred contracts are trading up by as much as 5 cents. The Thursday FCE auction saw no sales between $153 bids and $156 - $157 asks for the 1,045 head listed. USDA saw some light sales on Wednesday mostly from $155-$157. Feeder cattle futures are trading higher through midday with gains of as much as 67 cents so far. The CME Feeder Cattle Index for 12/20 was 13 cents higher to $178.14.
Weekly FAS data showed 4,518 MT of beef was sold for ’22 export during the week that ended 12/15. Japan was the top buyer with 3.5k MT for 2022 delivery, and 2.6k MT for 2023 delivery. The week’s total 2023 sales were 7.2k MT for a forward book of 50,889 MT. That trails last year’s forward book by 18%.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were higher in the AM report with a $1.88 increase for Choice and a $3.91 increase for Select. That had the Chc/Sel spread at $26.54 cwt. The USDA estimated the week’s FI cattle slaughter at 346k head through Wednesday. That compares to 364k head last week and 363k head during the same week last year.
Dec 22 Cattle are at $155.900, down $0.225,
Feb 23 Cattle are at $157.375, down $0.325,
April 23 Cattle are at $161.100, down $0.075,
Jan 23 Feeder Cattle are at $184.050, up $0.225
Mar 23 Feeder Cattle are at $186.400, up $0.675
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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