
Live cattle futures are trading with contracts near steady at midday, and Feb up 80 cents as cash strength continues. A few cash sales were reported early last week at $201 in the South, with late week sales jumping up to $208 in KS. Northern trade has pushed up to $205-212, with a bulk at $210-212. Feeder cattle futures are mostly lower, with nearby January up $1.125. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up 83 cents from the day prior at $278.28 on January 23. The weekly OKC feeder cattle auction has an estimated 13,500 MT head for sale today.
Cattle on Feed data showed December placements down 3.3% from a year ago at 1.642 million head. Marketings during December were up 1.04% at 1.742 million head. January 1 on feed inventory expected came in at 0.9% below a year ago at 11.823 million head.
Monthly Cold Storage data from NASS showed a total of 457.27 million lbs of beef stock held at the end of December. That was down 11.7% from last year but up 3.77% from the end of November, the seasonal trend.
USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Monday AM report, with the Chc/Sel spread @ $10.25. Choice boxes were back up 35 cents at $328.27/cwt, with Select $1.73 higher at $318.02. USDA estimated federally inspected cattle slaughter are 597,000 head last week. That is 5,000 head below last week and down 12,150 head from the same week last year.
Feb 25 Live Cattle are at $205.575, up $0.800,
Apr 25 Live Cattle are at $203.000, down $0.025,
Jun 25 Live Cattle are at $197.400, up $0.025,
Jan 25 Feeder Cattle are at $279.825, up $1.125
Mar 25 Feeder Cattle are at $275.125, down $1.450
Apr 25 Feeder Cattle are at $274.300, down $1.150
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.