Data for the final week of August is yet to be posted but it’s a formality at this juncture, given the pace of CAB-qualifying carcasses in the first 3 ½ weeks.
At this point in early August, we’ve added the June and July head harvest counts only to see steer harvest not only failed to increase in the year-over-year numbers, but actually declined.
The past decade shows a 23 percentage point improvement in marbling across Texas packers, matching that of Kansas if we use 2008 to the mid-year 2018 figures.
Average beef carcass cutout values in 2018 so far are just slightly higher than a year ago with the comprehensive cutout up just a penny over the first half of 2017 at $2.14/cwt.
Looking at the same 8-week period in sales, we can see that packers have done a good job of moving product through forward sales of boxed beef with delivery dates of 21 to 90 days out.
The latest USDA carcass weight data for the week beginning April 30th brings us ever closer to the lowest anticipated fed steer and heifer carcass weights of 2018.
The very narrow spread between CAB and Choice product, reduced even further from last week, represents a great buying opportunity for the premium brand.
Holding our ground and protecting our export position is vital in the two years ahead as our fed cattle supplies grow to the cycle peak and competing U.S. protein supplies become record large.
