Feedlot margins were back in the black last week averaging $3.36/head with a significant jump in the 5 Area Direct Steer price.
Steer prices averaged $244.85/cwt. for the week against $235.35/cwt. the previous week. At the same time, beef packer margins remained in positive territory with Sterling estimate for the weekly average at $67.03/head for the week.
While the Composite Beef Cutout was weaker last averaging $394.86/cwt. compared to $397.49/cwt. a week earlier, packers slaughtered cattle that were priced at the previous week’s lower cost.
Also, JBS’s Greeley, Colo., plant remained on strike last week. Fed cattle slaughter was up 8,000 head over the previous week and capacity utilization averaged 82%. That plant went back online this week with no agreement regarding the conditions of the strike.
View the full Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending April 4.
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.)
