Market News

A light cattle trade

The trade volume in the cattle was generally light on Friday afternoon. Final totals are likely to be very small. A few deals included extra delivery days. A few cattle traded in Kansas and Texas from 160.00 to 161.00, 2.00 to 3.00 lower than last week. Several pens in Nebraska and Iowa were marked at 260.00, 1.00 to 2.00 lower. The weekly slaughter was estimated at 533,000 head, 31,000 more than last week, but 22,000 smaller than last year.

Boxed beef cutout values were lower on the choice, and steady on select on light demand and moderate offerings. Choice boxed beef was down 2.59 at 257.79, and select was steady at 250.79.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 70 to 300 points lower. The sharp triple digit losses once again reminded most in the market how quickly the market tone can change. Lack of overall volume and thin buyer interest at the end of the week quickly gave way to a market that dropped out of sight. Sharply lower choice boxed beef values and an uncertain cash market contributed to the losses. April settled 3.00 lower at 157.80, and June was also down 3.00 at 149.00.

Feeder cattle ended the session 260 to 450 points lower. The trade seen on Friday is a quick reminder how fragile and unsecure footing is when the markets move higher. The light to moderate support seen through most of the morning was quickly dashed as prices quickly posted losses. The combination of softness in beef values as well as concern over lower cash cattle trade quickly wiped out the few buyers that had stepped into the market. April settled 2.80 lower at 213.00, and May was down 4.47 at 208.50.

Feeder cattle receipts at Missouri auctions this week totaled 41,368 head. Compared to last week, most feeders under 600 pounds sold mostly steady to 5.00 lower with spots of 5.00 to 10.00 lower. There were some instances of feather weight high quality calves which sold steady to 5.00 higher. Most of these were bought by local producers looking to finish filling their summer pastures. Yearling cattle were mostly steady to 3.00 higher. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 624 pounds traded at 258.27 per hundredweight. 624 pound heifers brought 238.08.

Lean hogs settled 10 to 70 points in the red. Moderate pressure was evident through the entire session as traders continued to backpedal away from the narrow bounce higher on Thursday. Any sense of market stability was dashed as aggressive triple digit losses flooded into the neighboring cattle complex, setting the weaker tone for lean hog futures as traders headed into the weekend. May settled .50 lower at 70.52, and June was down .10 at 78.27.

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .76 lower at 61.97 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was down .85 at 61.88, and the national report was down .43 at 61.71. Eastern markets were not reported due to confidentiality.

The pork carcass cutout value FOB plant was 1.85 higher at 67.99.

It sounds like retailers are stepping up and aggressively featuring pork, a strategy that reflects both abundant wholesale supplies and attractive margins.

The weekly hog kill was estimated at 2,243,000 head, 71,000 more than last week, and 240,000 more than last year.