On February 26, live cattle futures closed at $246.575, down 90 cents to $1.50 across various front-month contracts, despite April showing a weekly gain of $1.37. Feeder cattle futures fell between $2.25 and $2.60, with March still up $1.87 this week. Limited cash trade was observed, with northern prices ranging from $245 to $247 and southern prices at $249.
USDA reported a total beef export sale of 14,694 metric tons in the week of February 12, marking a five-week low; South Korea purchased 5,500 metric tons while Japan imported 2,600 metric tons. Additionally, the USDA’s estimated cattle slaughter for the week reached 516,000 head, 25,000 head above the previous week but 48,737 below the same week last year.
Cattle on Feed data revealed 1.736 million head of feeders placed in January, a decline of 4.72% from last year. February 1 total on-feed was 11.505 million head, down 1.8% from a year prior. Commitment of Traders data indicated a net long position increase in live cattle futures by 8,083 contracts to 116,717, while feeder cattle futures saw a net long increase of 644 contracts to 16,806.
