
Live cattle were up 2 to 32 cents in the nearby contracts on Thursday, with other contracts down 25 to 57 cents. Cash trade has seen a little action at $138 in the south this week, with sales in the north at $140-142, still a very strong basis. Thursday’s Fed Cattle Exchange online had no sales, with most asks ranging from $137.25-142 and bids hitting $136-137.25. Feeders were down 52 cents to $1.72 on the day. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down $1.59 to $153.46 on 5/18.
Survey averages ahead of today’s USDA Cattle on Feed report have placements during April down 4.6% vs. last year, with marketings down 2%. May on feed expectations are estimated to be up 1.3% by the trade.
Weekly beef Export Sales were 23,326 MT in the week that ended on May 12. Japan was the buyer of 7,900 MT. Shipments were reported at 19,847 MT, a 0.54% increase over the week prior.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were higher on Thursday afternoon. Choice was up $1.23 to $261.70, with Select 4 cents higher at $245.06. The Chc/Sel spread widened to $15.64. USDA estimated FI cattle slaughter at 499,000 head for the WTD through Thursday. That is up 4,000 wk/wk and 25,000 head larger yr/yr.
Jun 22 Cattle closed at $131.500, unch,
Aug 22 Cattle closed at $132.025, up $0.325,
Oct 22 Cattle closed at $138.000, up $0.075,
May 22 Feeder Cattle closed at $154.125, down $1.725
Aug 22 Feeder Cattle closed at $165.200, down $0.600