With higher Comprehensive Cutout driven by strong beef demand going into the Memorial Day weekend, beef packer margins improved from the prior week.
Average plant capacity utilization remains near 79% which in and of itself is a problem which will not be resolved soon regarding cattle numbers. Sustainable Beef, a new plant in North Platte, Neb., started up May 28 at a very slow pace.
Choice steer prices continued to hover in the upper $2.20/cwt range and when judged against breakeven prices for finished cattle hovering near $180/cwt continued to support strong feedlot margins that ranged near $700/head.
Cattle remain heavy and this is unlikely to change soon.
View the full Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending May 24.
The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.
(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)
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