Cattle Prices Triple Digits Higher

Live cattle futures are trading with triple digit gains of as much as $1.67. The feeders are also $1.27 to $2.47 higher at midday. USDA confirmed some light trade in the WCB on Wednesday near $185. The 8/22 CME Feeder Cattle Index was $244.75 after a 19 cent drop. 

The weekly Export Sales data showed 11,434 MT of beef was booked during the week that ended 8/17. That was down from 15k MT sold last week. USDA marked South Korea as the top buyer for the week. Weekly shipments were 11.8k MT, mainly to South Korea. Total beef commitments sit 19% below last year’s pace with 661k MT. 

NASS reported 420.1m lbs of beef in cold storage for the month of July. That was 2% more than June stocks but remains 18% tighter yr/yr. 

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices up by 16 cents in Choice and 50 cents in Select on Thursday morning. USDA estimates the week’s FI cattle slaughter at 364,000 head through Wednesday. That is 3k head below last week and 10k head below the same week last year.  

Aug 23 Cattle  are at $178.875, up $0.825,

Oct 23 Cattle  are at $180.200, up $1.525,

Dec 23 Cattle  are at $184.125, up $1.200,

Cash Cattle Index was $179.000, from $179.00 last week

Aug 23 Feeder Cattle  are at $246.350, up $1.325

Sep 23 Feeder Cattle  are at $250.775, up $2.200