Cattle futures cooled off for the midweek session, ending down by $2.30 to $2.82. June fats were the exception with an 82 cent drop. The Merc showed Dec 7th was the oldest dated long for June cattle, with no deliveries announced and none expected during the strong cash market rally this week. USDA confirmed sales from $8-$15 higher in NE. The bulk of the activity was from $188-$194. The Southern trade has yet to fully establish for the week. Feeder cattle futures also dropped by triple digits with $4.15 to $4.27 losses. The August contract was just 2 1/2 cents under the all time high. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was $219.28 on 6/6 after another 63 cent increase.
Converted Census data has April’s beef export at 267.6m lbs. That is down 7% from March and 12% below the record in April ’22.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices for Wednesday afternoon were shown at $325.19 for Choice and $301.56 for Select. That was another $3.79 and a $2.12 cwt. increase respectively. USDA estimated the week’s FI cattle slaughter at 370k head through Wednesday. That trails the same week last year by 4k head.
Jun 23 Cattle closed at $179.000, down $0.825,
Aug 23 Cattle closed at $173.200, down $2.300,
Oct 23 Cattle closed at $175.625, down $2.625,
Aug 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $239.100, down $4.150
Sep 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $242.275, down $4.250
Oct 23 Feeder Cattle closed at $244.550, down $4.275
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. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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