Red Midday for Cattle Market

Front month cattle futures are trading mostly lower, save for a 25 cent gain in June. The active months are down by 32 to 82 cents so far. Feeders are down triple digits at midday, with losses of as much as $1.62. Cash trade this week was $188-$194 in the North, and near $186 in the South. Thursday’s feeder cattle market closed with futures $0.45 to $1.22 in the red. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was $219.28 on 6/6 after another 63 cent increase. 

USDA’s monthly update for quarterly beef production increased 2023 by 165m lbs, up by 55 for Q2, Q3 +65, Q4 +45. The Q1 for 2024 was also raised by 40m lbs. USDA now projects 27.086b lbs of production for CY 2023, and 24.795b for 2024. 

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were $2.25 higher in Choice and $2.47 stronger in Select this morning. USDA estimated FI cattle slaughter for the week through Thursday at 495k head. That is 499k head behind last year’s pace. 

Jun 23 Cattle  are at $179.200, up $0.425,

Aug 23 Cattle  are at $171.775, down $0.475,

Oct 23 Cattle  are at $174.575, down $0.125,

Cash Cattle Index was $190.000, from $171.00 last week

Aug 23 Feeder Cattle  are at $237.775, down $0.875

Sep 23 Feeder Cattle  are at $240.700, down $0.775

On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.