Live cattle futures closed with gains of 80 to 90 cents in the nearbys on Monday. 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 saw gains of $1.025 in January, with other contracts down $1 to $1.30. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up 83 cents from the day prior at $277.93 on January 24. The weekly OKC feeder cattle auction has an estimated 13,500 head for sale today. Sales were up $5-10 for feeder steers and $5-8 for feeder heifers, while calves were steady.
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 PM report, with the Chc/Sel spread @ $9.53. Choice boxes were back up $2.16 at $330.08/cwt, with Select $4.26 higher at $320.55. USDA estimated federally inspected cattle slaughter are 114,000 head on Monday. That is 1,000 head below last Monday and down 8,806 head from the same Monday last year.
Feb 25 Live Cattle closed at $205.675, up $0.900,
Apr 25 Live Cattle closed at $203.825, up $0.800,
Jun 25 Live Cattle closed at $198.200, up $0.825,
Jan 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $279.725, up $1.025,
Mar 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $275.250, down $1.325,
Apr 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $274.425, down $1.025,
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- What is Pushing Cattle Prices Higher?
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