Cattle Holding Steady at Midday

Live cattle futures started out Monday with strength, but are back to steady at midday, with April down 35 cents and other contracts higher. Cash trade was on the move late last week, up $7-8 to $210 in the South and $212-216 in the North. Feeder cattle futures are 25 to 75 cents lower so far on Monday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up another $1.84 on March 20, with the average price at $287.78. The Monday OKC feeder cattle auction has an estimated 6,500 head for sale, even with the same week last year.

The monthly Cattle on Feed report showed February placements at 1.554 million head, down 17.78% from last year and below the average trade estimate. Feb marketings were down 8.92% at 1.663 million head. March 1 on feed data came in at 11.577 million head, down 2.2% compared to the level last year and below estimate of a 1.7% decline.

Commitment of Trader data from Friday indicated a total of 7,359 contracts added to the net long in live cattle futures and options as of March 18. That took the net long to 120,175 contracts. Speculators in Feeder cattle continue to build their record net long, up another 1,138 contracts to 31,197 contracts as of Tuesday.

The Monday morning National Wholesale Boxed Beef report from USDA was mixed, as the Chc/Sel narrowed to at $13.54. Choice boxes were down 13 cents to $325.32/cwt, with Select $2.16 higher at $311.78. Last week’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 560,000 head by USDA. That is 24,000 head below the previous week, and down 32,712 from the same week last year.

Apr 25 Live Cattle  are at $206.600, down $0.350,

Jun 25 Live Cattle  are at $202.925, up $0.150,

Aug 25 Live Cattle  are at $199.975, up $0.625,

Mar 25 Feeder Cattle  are at $286.725, up $0.250

Apr 25 Feeder Cattle  are at $285.700, up $0.725

May 25 Feeder Cattle  are at $285.425, up $0.325