Live cattle rounded out a weaker Thursday session with contracts down $5 to $6.20. The Thursday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 1,602 head offered, with bids of $235-236. Cash movement has been quiet this week. Feeder cattle futures were down $6 to $7.50 in the front months on the Thursday session. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up 59 cents to $375.16 on February 4.
Late on Wednesday, workers at the Greeley, CO JBS plant (~5,000 hd/day) voted to authorize a strike, though they did not give specifics on a timeline of when said strike would begin.
USDA reported 19,748 MT of beef sold in the week ending on 1/29. That was the largest so far in the calendar year. South Korea was the largest buyer of 7,600 MT, with 6,300 MT sold to Japan. Shipments were tallied at just 12,992 MT, which was 3.32% above the previous week, but down 34.53% from the same week last year. Of that total, 4,400 MT was headed to South Korea, with 3,800 MT shipped to Japan.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Thursday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $6.88. Choice boxes were down 77 cents to $367.25, while Select was $1.72 lower at $360.37. USDA reported federally inspected cattle slaughter at 114,000 head for Thursday, with the weekly total at 450,000 head. That is 14,000 head above last week but 23,336 head shy of the same week last year.
Feb 26 Live Cattle closed at $235.250, down $5.275,
Apr 26 Live Cattle closed at $235.600, down $6.200,
Jun 26 Live Cattle closed at $232.200, down $5.025,
Mar 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $364.075, down $6.000,
Apr 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $360.500, down $7.000,
May 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $356.200, down $7.550,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
More news from Barchart
