Live cattle futures experienced losses on Thursday, with declines ranging from 82 cents to $2.22 at the close. Despite this, August futures are up $5.45 this week. The Fed Cattle online auction on Thursday reported no sales from the 1,466 head offered, with cash trade bids ranging between $353 and $354. Feeder cattle futures also saw a decrease, dropping 30 cents to $1.10, though August futures remain $9.17 higher this week.
USDA data released on the same day indicated that May cattle placements decreased by 9.7% year-over-year, exceeding estimates of a 5.5% drop. Cattle marketings fell 11.77% from last year, totaling 1.551 million head, while June 1 on-feed inventory rose 2.09% to 11.682 million head. Additionally, daily cattle slaughter estimates for Thursday were reported at 109,000 head, bringing this week’s total to 426,000, up 5,000 from the previous week but down 23,239 from last year.
The weekly Export Sales report showed 10,449 metric tons of beef sold for 2026 in the week ending June 11, nearly half of the previous week’s sales, while shipments totaled 13,022 metric tons. Wholesale Boxed Beef prices decreased, with choice boxes down 58 cents to $393.92 and select boxes down $2.51 to $374.75.
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