Live cattle futures are down by 90 cents to $1.625 as of Monday’s trading session. Last week, cash cattle prices ranged from $191-192 in the South, and reached up to $195-196 in the North. Meanwhile, feeder cattle are experiencing losses between $1.25 and $1.90, with the CME Feeder Cattle Index at $262.59 as of December 12.
The USDA reported a mixed outlook for wholesale Boxed Beef prices on Monday morning. Choice boxes fell by 72 cents to $315.67 per hundredweight, while Select boxes increased by $5.71 to $289.57. Last week’s federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 609,000 head, which is a decrease of 5,000 from the prior week and down 38,172 from the same week last year.
The weekly CFTC Commitment of Traders report showed a total of 3,908 contracts added to the managed money net long position in live cattle, bringing it to 126,308 contracts as of December 10. In feeder cattle, the net long position increased by 1,012 contracts to 19,866.
