Margins widened this week this week for pork and beef producers while packer margins remain in the red for beef at -$34.67 and decreased for pork to $8.65.
Negotiated cash cattle dropped $1.66 per cwt. the week ending Nov. 16 while feedlot margins dropped $27 per head to an industry average of $133.50 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. Meanwhile, beef packers saw profits increase $22 per head to a loss of $34.67 per head. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $168 per head in favor of the feeder.
Cash cattle averaged $184.69 per cwt. the week ending Nov. 16, while Comprehensive Beef Cutout prices posted a $3.49 per cwt. loss to close at $307.96 per cwt.
Cattle marketed last week carried a total feed cost of $439.05 per head, about $13 more than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.
Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $252.31 per cwt., or $1 less per cwt. than a month ago.
The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,657 per head, up from last year’s estimate of $2,402 per head.
Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 487,860 down 2,562 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 83.7.0%, the same as last year.
View the full Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending Nov. 16.
Farrow-to-finish hog producers found positive margins of $37.35 per head last week, up $6.07 from the previous week, according to the Sterling Pork Profit Tracker. A year ago, those margins were at -$27.86. Lean carcass prices averaged $88.01 per cwt., up $2.18 from the previous week.
Hogs placed for finishing last week had a breakeven at $68.08 per head.
Pork packers saw average profits of $9 per head, down $13 from the previous week. Last year pork packer margins were $38.89. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.565 million head, down 11,383 head from the same week last year.
Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 97.8% compared to 98.3% last year.
View the full Sterling Pork Profit Tracker for the week ending Nov. 16.
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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