Analysis: Analyzing a Complex Cattle Market
Livestock Markets 041620
The cattle market has been dynamic over the last couple of weeks. Consumers have been hoarding meat due to COVID-19 while the futures and cash prices are not necessarily reflecting it.
The daily spot choice box beef cutout ended the week on Friday, April 10 at $223.93, which was $6.51 lower compared to the previous Friday. Just four weeks ago, it was in the $206 to $208 range.
“That disconnect continues into the cash market,” says “Mastering the Grain Markets” author Elaine Kub. “I think that’s the thing that should give owners of cattle some hope going forward. As these contracts come to expiration, there’s that mechanism by a cash settlement with those contracts that we should see the futures prices come closer to what the cash prices really are.”
Watch Kub talk with Clinton Griffiths about the cash price and futures price in this clip.
