Live cattle futures saw Wednesday weakness, with contracts down 15 cents to $1.07 at the close. Open interest was down 9000 contracts on Wednesday. Cash trade has been trickling in, with USDA reporting light early at $340 dressed in the north and $216-219 live. Sales in the south have been near $218. The Wednesday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 3,018 head offered, with bids at $216. Feeder cattle futures fell back $2.50 to $3.12. OI was down 984 contracts on Wednesday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down $2.20 on November 3 to $346.58.
Census data converted to a carcass basis showed beef exports of just 179.9 million lbs of beef exported in September, slightly above last year and down 9% from August.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Wednesday PM report, with the Chc/Sel at $5.85. Choice boxes were down $2.73 to $362.50, with Select $1.72 lower to $356.65. USDA estimated Federally inspected cattle slaughter for Wednesday at 109,000 head, taking the weekly total to 320,000, with a 3,000 head revision to Tuesday. That was down 5,000 head from the week prior and 29,303 head below the same week last year.
Dec 26 Live Cattle closed at $218.000, down $0.150,
Feb 27 Live Cattle closed at $220.825, down $0.600,
Apr 27 Live Cattle closed at $223.200, down $0.500,
Nov 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $332.025, down $2.500,
Jan 27 Feeder Cattle closed at $325.725, down $2.650,
Mar 27 Feeder Cattle closed at $320.850, down $3.125,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not directly have a position 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.