Thursday markets
Following the USDA’s announcement of lower-than-expected corn yields, the corn market rallied sending feeder cattle mixed.
Live cattle closed higher today, but August contracts traded lightly. The August contract was up 20 cents to $123.15 and the October contract was higher 92 cents, closing at $128.50.
“Nonetheless, today’s futures rally has done nothing to alter the sideways chop that the cattle market has been in for months,” Cassie Fish, livestock analyst for The Beef, wrote. “Tendered deliveries of cattle in Texas the last couple of days against the August live cattle contract have had little impact on the market, other than to force out more longs in an already illiquid spot month. For the week, the August live cattle contract is unchanged from last Friday.”
Today’s cash trade was moderate, with 11,587 head sold between $123-126, averaging $124.43. Dressed steers sold for an average of $197.95. On the formula side, 32,400 head averaging 871 lbs. sold for $197.64.
“Cash cattle prices have been in a sideways trend for many months as well,” Fish said. “This week cash cattle trade volume continues to dribble along totaling 41k head as of this morning. A few cattle have traded this morning at $198 and a small trade of Angus cattle to a regional packer at $204. Generally, prices have traded mostly steady this week, a bit of a disappointment.”
Slaughter for today is expected to be 116,000 head—5,000 below last week—and the weekly total thus far is 462,000 head.
Boxed beef prices rallied as well on 97 loads, with the Choice cutout up $7.13 to $317.93 and the Select cutout $2.32 higher to $290.31.
Weekly beef export sales and shipments posted total sales at 13,600 metric tons (mt), with shipments for the week listed at 18,600 mt. Japan led the weekly sales list with 6,000 mt sold, while South Korea posted the largest export number with 6,000 mt shipped.
Feeder cattle
Feeder cattle closed the day mixed, with the August contract down 7 cents to $158.70 and the September contract was higher 72 cents to $163.55. The CME Feeder Index was up 6 cents to $156.25.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service estimates a national average corn yield of 174.6 bushels per acre (bpa), down 4.9 bpa from July, toward the low end of pre-report expectations.
Corn rallied to their highest levels since July, with the September contract up 10 cents to $5.67 and the December contract was 14 cents higher, closing at $5.73 a bushel.
South Dakota: Hub City Livestock in Aberdeen sold 3,584 head on Wednesday. Compared to the previous auction, steers 800-1,000 lbs. sold mostly steady, except 900-950 lbs. were not well compared. Heifers 800-900 lbs. sold mostly steady. Today’s large offering was characterized as good to very good demand featuring many steers and heifers off grass selling in loads and strings. Benchmark steers averaging 832 lbs. sold between $159.25-163., averaging $161.08.
Oklahoma: OKC West in El Reno sold 6,573 head on Wednesday. Compared to the previous auction, feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $2 lower. Benchmark steers averaging 785 lbs. sold between $153-158, averaging $155.90. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
