Cattle Firms Up on Thursday

Live cattle futures posted gains of 77 cent to $1.125 at the close, with August 7 cents lower. Cash trade has picked up a few at $355-360 dressed and $226. The Thursday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 1,520 head offered, with bids of $223 to 225. Feeder cattle futures were down $1.55 to $2.12 higher across the board. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down another 51 cents on August 19 to $341.85. 

Export Sales data from USDA showed beef sales for 2026 at 9,299 MT for the week ending on 8/13. That was a 5-week low. Mexico was the buyer of 1,600 MT, with 1,400 MT to South Korea. Shipments were tallied at 12,646 MT, which was a 6-week high. South Korea was the destination of 3,600 MT, with 3,200 MT headed to Japan.

Cattle on Feed data will be released on Friday, with traders looking for July placements down 6.7% and marketings down 7.2% from a year ago. August 1 on feed data is seen up 2.4%. \

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Thursday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel narrowing to $26.19. Choice boxes were down $5.06 at $389.93, with Select 43 cents lower to $363.74. USDA’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter for Thursday was estimated at 103,000 head, taking the total to 412,000 head for the week. That is down 4,000 head from the previous week and 39,893 head below the same week last year.

Aug 26 Live Cattle  closed at $223.350, down $0.075,

Oct 26 Live Cattle  closed at $218.000, up $0.775,

Dec 26 Live Cattle  closed at $218.275, up $1.125,

Aug 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $335.300, down $1.550,

Sep 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $328.925, down $0.200,

Oct 26 Feeder Cattle  closed at $322.700, up $0.650,