Cattle Face Losses on Friday

Live cattle futures faced Friday pressure, but bounced off the lows to close with contracts 85 cents to $2.60 lower. August was $8.07 lower on the week. There were no new deliveries issued against August futures on Friday. Cash trade rounded out the week with $225-228 sales in the North and some $228 Southern sales. Feeder cattle futures saw losses of $2 to $4.05 across the board on Friday, with August falling $10.82 on the day. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down $3.43 on August 13 to $348.50.  

Late on Thursday, Tyson announced it will shut its Joslin, IL plant (3,000 hd/day) and sell it’s Pasco, WA plant (2,000 hd/day). They also announced the Amarillo, TX plant will ramp up production after cutting back kill last fall. 

Commitment of Traders data showed managed money trimming another 1,405 contracts from their net long in live cattle futures and options to 64,662 contracts as of Tuesday. In feeder cattle futures and options specs added just 133 contracts to their net long of 8,738 contracts in the week of August 11.

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Friday afternoon report, narrowing the Chc/Sel spread to $24.06. Choice boxes were down 60 cents at $375.30, with Select up $2 to $351.24. USDA’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter for this week was estimated at 517,000 head through Saturday. That is up 8,000 head from the previous week and 18,913 head below the same week last year.

Aug 26 Live Cattle  closed at $223.625, down $2.600,

Oct 26 Live Cattle  closed at $218.875, down $1.175,

Dec 26 Live Cattle  closed at $218.375, down $1.075,

Aug 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $340.825, down $2.000,

Sep 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $334.550, down $2.650,

Oct 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $325.425, down $3.375,