By late afternoon on Friday the cattle trade remained at a virtual a standstill with both sides digging in their heels. Feedlot managers continued to be confident about the manageability of ready numbers. On the other hand, packers seemed to be determined to address terrible processing margins. Surely a minimum of cattle will have to be traded before buyers and sellers retreat for the weekend. The weekly slaughter totaled 608,000 head, 20,000 less than last week, and 46,000 down from last year.
Boxed beef cutout values were weak on light demand and light to moderate offerings. Choice boxed beef was down .49 at 184.13, and select was .65 lower at 179.22.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 15 to 70 points higher. Traders spent much of the session repositioning ahead of the cattle inventory report and cash trade. The report looks bullish and came in some lower than pre report guesses indicated, and the lowest number of cattle and calves since January of 1952. More on the report can be seen on our website. February cattle settled .15 higher at 124.70m and April finished .40 higher at 128.45.
Feeder cattle finished the session 70 to 97 points higher on the support from the live pit. The expectation the cattle inventory report would drop by one to two-percent was also supportive to feeder futures. March settled .97 higher at 154.60, and April was .90 higher at 156.82.
Feeder cattle receipts at Missouri Auctions this week totaled 38,117 head. Compared to the previous week, feeder steers sold 2.00 to 6.00 higher with some steers weighing less than 500 pounds 7.00 to 10.00 higher. Feeder heifers sold uneven with most falling in a range of 2.00 lower to 4.00 higher, although some higher quality 6 to 650 weight heifers were up to 10.00 higher, and some weighing less than 450 pounds as much as 5.00 lower. The feeder supply is moderate to heavy, although most weight classes did not see near the numbers as was seen over the last few weeks. Demand remains good to very good. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 526 pounds traded at an average of 179.48 per hundredweight. 575 pound heifers brought 152.25.
Lean hogs settled 45 to 82 points higher on light support that developed across the lean hog comtracts at late morning. The buying activity across the complex is more to do with late week positioning rather than any fundamental or technical support seen in the lean hog pit. February settled .72 higher at 86.67, and April was up .57 at 87.37.
Market hogs closed sharply lower with slow market activity and light demand. Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed 3.91 lower at 85.20 weighted averages on a carcass basis, the West was down 3.97 at 85.09, and Eastern markets were 1.17 lower at 81.11. Missouri direct base carcass meat price closed steady from 80.00 to 82.00. Terminal hog prices were steady to 2.00 lower from 57.50 to 60.
Pork trading was slow to moderate with light to moderate demand and offerings. Pork carcass cutout value was down .03 at 83.26.
The weekly hog slaughter was estimated at 2,167,000 head, 54,000 less than last week, and down 36,000 from last year. Packers continue to suffer from negative processing margins as pork prices continued to show weakness this week. Packers may continue to slow chain speed next week and bids on Monday are predicted to be weak to lower.
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