Cash Cattle Lower; COF Placements Down 8%
Cash cattle markets were lower for the week ending Jan. 20 with a moderate fed cattle trade. Adverse winter weather conditions in the northern regions added stress to cattle and reduced weights.
Trade in the North occurred at $155 to $156 live, and $248 dressed, mainly $1 lower on a live basis and $2 to $4 lower dressed. Light volumes traded at $155 in the South, $1 lower. Feeder cattle traded mixed, from $1 higher to $5 lower. Calves sold in a wide range from $2 higher to $4 lower.
Cattle futures rebounded modestly to end the week, with February live cattle rising 67.5 cents Friday to a close at $156.625. That represented a weekly loss of $1.10. And while expiring January feeders slid 17.5 cents to $177.925, most-active March climbed 87.5 cents to $180.975, which marked a weekly loss of $1.90.
Friday’s cattle rally may have been partially driven by short-covering to end the week, but analysts suspect packers were unable to force cash prices as low as they hoped (although the Monday-Thursday average fell $2.54 from the week-prior to $155.07) and/or didn’t get the cattle numbers they wanted. The fact that February futures held at and rebounded from the upward trendline drawn across their fall lows likely triggered technical buying as well, according to Pro Farmer analysts.
Wholesale beef prices also moved lower with the Choice boxed beef closing Friday at $271.72 per cwt., down $4.90. Select boxed beef closed Friday at $256.43 per cwt., down 46 cents for the week.
Estimated weekly cattle slaughter was 646,000 head, up 9,000 head from a year ago. The year-to-date total was an estimated 1.872M head, down 3000 head from last year.
U.S. Cattle on Feed Down 3 Percent
Cattle and calves on feed in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.7 million head on January 1, 2023, down 3% from the same month a year ago.
Placements on feed during December totaled 1.80 million head, 8 percent below 2021. Marketings of fed cattle during December totaled 1.74 million head, 6 percent below 2021.
Analysts called the report neutral as the trade anticipated a 9% decline in on-feed inventories. December marketings fell about 6% from the comparable year-ago level. A calendar-driven loss of a workday last month caused the bulk of the marketings decline, but the USDA figure came up about 1% short of expectations.
