Cattle Futures Mostly Higher, Awaiting Cash Trade

April fats weakened 22 cents on Tuesday, but the rest of the nearbys went home 15 to 40 cents higher. April was still a $4.20 premium to in-delivery Feb.  There were no deliveries issued against Feb on FND, with the oldest long dated October 20th 2020. Cash trade was limited for Tuesday, with USDA citing some $138 - $140 in KS and the WCB. Today’s weekly FCE electronic auction has 1,462 head listed. Feeder cattle futures closed Tuesday with triple digit gains of $0.55 to $1.85. The CME Feeder Cattle Index from 2/4 was $160.14 after a 3 cent dip. 

Converted Census data had December beef shipments totaling 287.9m lbs, leaving the 2021 yearly export total at a record 3.447b lbs. The prior record was 2018 with 3.159b lbs shipped. 

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were reported lower in the PM update. Choice dropped by $1.50 and Select was $1.20 lower. Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 122k head for Tuesday, which brought the WTD total to 243,000 head. Last week’s pace was for 241k, and the same week last year was 229,000 head. 

Feb 22 Cattle  closed at $141.975, up $0.150,

Jun 22 Cattle  closed at $141.250, up $0.150,

Mar 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $166.875, up $1.850

Apr 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $171.775, up $1.500