US: Cattle Market Review Week 37, Sep 18, 2023
October live cattle futures rose 2.325 cents to 185.475 cents a pound after hitting a high of 185.775 cents a pound. December live cattle prices rose 2.500 cents to 190.350 cents and hit a high of 190.550 cents.
Feeder cattle futures also rose, with the October contract up 2.825 cents at 261.875 cents a pound after hitting a contract high set on Tuesday.
"It looks like we're starting to short," said FuturesOne commodity broker Matt Wiegand. "Obviously, cattle numbers are still small."
The U.S. beef herd fell to its lowest level since 1962 at the start of the year after a severe drought sent feed prices soaring. The tight supply has squeezed processors’ profits. Processors earned $30.90 per HEAD of cattle, down from $72.45 a week ago, according to HedgersEdge.com.
Meatpackers slaughtered about 124,000 head of cattle, compared with 126,000 head of cattle a week ago and 127,000 head of cattle a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Wholesale beef prices are trending lower. Boxed beef tenderloin was $1.18 lower at $306.37 per hundredweight, according to the USDA. USDA lowered its beef production forecast by 40 million pounds from last month amid a slowdown in production in the third quarter. Beef production is expected to decline 1.35 billion pounds, or 4.8%, from a year ago. For 2024 , USDA made no changes to its beef production forecast but cut its EXPORT forecast . Beef production is forecast to grow 6.6% next year, with exports likely to decline another 5.0%.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported separately Thursday that net export sales of 2023 beef for the week ended Sept. 7 totaled 6,200 metric tons, down 48% from the previous week and 56% from the average for the previous four weeks.
WEEKLY COST OF CUT OUT CAT.CHOICE
CATTLE SALES
Sale of cattle, heads
Average weight
Week 36
Week 37
Growth per week,%
Week 36
Week 37
Growth per week,%
Bulls (live weight)
6,500
9 855
51.6%
1,485
1 509
1.6%
Heifers (live weight)
2 311
2 203
-4.7%
1 330
1 323
-0.5%
Bulls (slaughter weight)
6 592
355
-94.6%
946
937
-1.0%
Heifers (slaughter weight)
2 098
223
-89.4%
837
807
-3.6%
WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE BULL PRICE
BEEF PRODUCTION
Indicator
Week 37
Week 36
Week 37 2022
Growth per week,%
Growth per year, %
Volume of cattle slaughter
632,000
559,000
673,000
13.1%
-6.1%
Live weight
1 356
1 355
1 369
0.1%
-0.9%
Slaughter weight
824
823
832
0.1%
-1.0%
Beef Production (million pounds)
519.6
458.8
558.9
13.3%
-7.0%
CME: Live Cattle Futures
Week 36
Week 37
Growth per week,%
October
183.23
186.93
2.0%
December
187.47
191.83
2.3%
February
191.70
196.33
2.4%
Feeder Cattle Futures
September
255.35
257.38
0.8%
October
259.15
264.48
2.1%
November
260.63
268.13
2.9%
You can learn more about the state of the cattle market in the usa (cattle prices, cost of beef by category, production dynamics) in the weekly reviews of the MEAT market in RUSSIA and in the world from Meatinfo.ru. Weekly reviews are available free of charge as part of a subscription to the monthly analytics of meat markets in Russia.