Lack Of Weather And Packer Participation Keep Market Steady
The cash market slowed to steady last week at $124 in most of the cattle trading areas. Limited numbers of cattle were thought to trade slightly higher but not confirmed at press time.
The winter storm across the plains and Nebraska was not as severe as anticipated earlier in the week. The board lost ground as a result of the storm. The negative impact on gains, or pounds of beef available as was initially anticipated, was reduced as the storms passed by much of the feeding areas. The cash trade paralleled the board in lack of positive movement. The trade was a hard won steady, with not many cattle trading, due to the lack of severe weather, but also, several of the trade areas only had two packers actively participating in the trade.
Where does the market go from here? Many believe that this is momentary lull in the market due to weather ups and downs. The packers that were in the market seemed to be very hungry and had no issues adding to their inventory. Adding inventory is usually a good indication that packer is anticipating a higher market.
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