Live Cattle Futures Surge as Cash Prices Increase
On Friday, live cattle futures are climbing, seeing gains ranging from $3 to $4.15, as cash prices continue to rise. Earlier in the week, cash trades were reported at $196-197 in the southern regions, with bids reaching $198 in Kansas this morning. Northern trades have shown slower activity, but a few sales today are recorded at $200. In the morning’s Federal Cattle Exchange auction at Central Stockyards, one of two lots sold for $203 through the BidTheGrid™ method. Midday feeder cattle futures rose as well, increasing by $2.60 to $3.90 across most contracts. The CME Feeder Cattle Index dropped by $1.78 on March 5, settling with an average price of $276.09.
The National Wholesale Boxed Beef prices saw increases in the Friday morning report. The Choice/Select spread has narrowed to $8.22, with choice boxes rising by $1.19 to $314.31 per hundredweight (cwt), and select boxes increasing by $2.58 to $306.09 per cwt. Thursday’s federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 122,000 head, contributing to a weekly total of 467,000 head reported by the USDA. While this figure is 10,000 head higher than the previous week, it remains down by 19,969 head compared to the same week last year.
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Apr 25 Live Cattle: $200.425, up $4.150
Jun 25 Live Cattle: $196.450, up $3.825
Aug 25 Live Cattle: $194.325, up $3.350
Mar 25 Feeder Cattle: $276.650, up $2.625
Apr 25 Feeder Cattle: $277.775, up $3.350
May 25 Feeder Cattle: $277.750, up $3.900
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have any positions in the securities mentioned in this article, either directly or indirectly. All information and data in this article are for informational purposes only. For more details, please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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