US: Cattle Market Review Week 12, March 24, 2025

CME June cattle futures fell 2.250 cents to 202.775 cents a pound, but still hit all-time highs for the third straight day. CME April cattle futures fell 3.475 cents to 284.975 cents a pound, having previously hit all-time highs for the fourth straight day.

"Cattle futures really started to get overbought and they really turned higher," said Carl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting.

High winds and snowstorms in Kansas and Nebraska led to road closures early in the week, including Interstate 80 in Nebraska, slowing the movement of cattle to slaughter.

Concerns about consumer demand also weighed on cattle markets as markets weighed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's comments earlier in the week that President Donald Trump's initial policies, including sweeping import tariffs, appeared to have tilted the U.S. economy toward slower growth and at least temporarily higher inflation.

Traders were also awaiting the release of the USDA's monthly feedlot cattle report, which was released after the close of trading. The USDA report showed that the number of cattle on U.S. feedlots fell 18% in February from a year earlier.

WEEKLY COST OF CUT OUT CAT.CHOICE

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE BULL PRICE

BEEF PRODUCTION                                                                     

Indicator

Week 12

Previous week

A year ago

Growth per week,%

Growth per year, %

Volume of cattle slaughter

587,000

578,000

597,000

1.6%

-1.7%

Live weight

1,435

1,437

1 396

-0.1%

2.8%

Slaughter weight

874

876

847

-0.2%

3.2%

Beef Production (million pounds)

512.0

505,0

505,0

1.4%

1.4%

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 11

Week 12

Growth per week,%

April

203.18

206.95

1.9%

June

199.35

202.78

1.7%

August

196.70

199.35

1.3%

CME: Feeder Cattle Futures

March

281.98

286.48

1.6%

April

281.20

284.98

1.3%

May

282.65

285.10

0.9%

You can learn more about the state of the cattle market in the usa ( cattle prices , cost of beef by category, production dynamics) in the weekly reviews of the MEAT market in RUSSIA and in the world from Meatinfo.ru. Weekly reviews are available as part of a subscription.