Cattle Fade on Thursday

Live cattle futures ended the Thursday session with $0.47 to $1.10 losses. August’s drop was limited on thinner OI – just 4,090 contracts as of 8/17. Feeder cattle ended with triple digit losses of $1.52 to $1.87. The Thursday FCE auction sold 495 of the 1,178 head listed – mostly near $142. Outside of the FCE, the USDA confirmed $142 sales in the South with $146-$150 in the North. Dressed sales have been mostly near $234. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up 54 cents on August 16 to $179.89. 

Weekly Export Sales data showed 18,937 MT of beef was booked during the week that ended 8/11. That was a 2-week high and up 70% from the same week last year. China was the top buyer with 7.4k MT. USDA had weekly beef shipments at 18,970 MT for a MY total of 597k MT. 

USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices from Thursday’s PM report were mixed widening the spread to $26.92. Choice was up a nickel to $264.39 and Select was down by 42 cents. USDA estimated the WTD cattle slaughter at 499,000 head through Thursday. That is up 3,000 head from last week and 12,000 larger than the same week last year.

Aug 22 Cattle  closed at $141.275, down $0.475,

Oct 22 Cattle  closed at $144.750, down $1.100,

Dec 22 Cattle  closed at $150.550, down $0.950,

Aug 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $181.525, down $1.725

Sep 22 Feeder Cattle  closed at $185.275, down $1.850