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Cattle futures pressured by beef, profit taking

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were sharply lower on the sharply lower midday boxed beef and profit taking. Monday’s gains were done in pretty low volume, without a lot of fundamental backing. Live and feeder cattle both had expanded trade limits. June was down $1.87 at $119.60 and August was $3.25 lower at $115.02.

Feeder cattle were sharply lower on the drop in midday boxed beef and profit taking. Contracts were overbought following Monday’s jump, especially considering last week’s on feed numbers and the recent firm to higher trend in corn. August was $4.57 lower at $144.87 and September was down $4.37 at $144.52.

Direct cash cattle markets remained quiet, with just a few token bids reported at $119 on the live basis in Iowa. Overall, processing margins are good and this week’s showlist is smaller than last week, with widespread business not expected until Thursday or Friday. Fed Cattle Exchange activity is scheduled for Wednesday, but unless there’s a significant improvement in volume, it shouldn’t spark direct cash activity.

At Joplin Regional Stockyards in Missouri Monday, feeder steers and heifers were steady to $5 higher than the previous week. The USDA says buying interest improved as the day went on. Quality was called better than the week before and the offering including large strings of long weaned yearlings. The supply was heavy and demand was moderate to good. 55% of the run was steers and 61% of the offering weighed more than 600 pounds. 600 to 685 pound feeder steers were reported at $151 to $162.50 and 700 to 800 pounders brought $144.50 to $157.50. 500 to 600 pound heifer ranged from $139 to $163 and 600 to 700 pound heifers sold at $137 to $147.

Boxed beef closed sharply lower on light to moderate demand and moderate offerings. Choice was down $4.66 at $233.91 and Select was $2.40 lower at $215.26. The estimated cattle slaughter 118,000 head, up 1,000 from a week ago and 4,000 from a year ago.

Lean hogs were lower on demand concerns, the steady to lower cash during the session, and spillover from cattle. Losses were limited by the higher midday pork and contracts’ discount to the cash index. July was $.55 lower at $86.47 and August was down $.12 at $78.55.

Cash hog business was nearly unchanged, with pretty modest changes at the major direct markets. Buyers and sellers are both watching market ready numbers, which are expected to expand at least somewhat in the near future, along with wholesale demand. Pork demand is good, but there’s a lot of pork available.

Iowa/Southern Minnesota direct barrows and gilts closed $.02 lower at $83 to $87 with a weighted average $86.36, the Western Cornbelt down $.09 at $83 to $87 for an average of $86.29, and national direct business was $.03 lower at $81 to $87 with an average of $85.75. Butcher hogs at the Midwest cash markets were steady at $58 to $62. Missouri direct butchers were steady at $78 to $81 with supply and demand both called light to moderate. Sows were steady at $42 to $50. Illinois direct sows were $2 higher at $48 to $60. Barrows and gilts were firm at $59 to $62. Boars ranged from $10 to $40.

Pork closed $.96 higher at $102.31. All primals were firm to higher. The estimated hog slaughter was 436,000 head, up 5,000 from a week ago and 8,000 from a year ago.

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