US Cattle Market Review for Week 13, March 31, 2025

The hotly traded June live cattle contract fell 1.325 cents to 204.850 cents per pound. Feeder cattle futures followed the decline in live cattle, with the May contract falling 1.350 cents to 285.175 cents per pound.

The data fueled fears of weak U.S. economic growth and high inflation as the Trump administration hikes tariffs — news that traders feared could make consumers less willing to pay for more expensive cuts of beef.

Meanwhile, US consumer spending recovered less than expected in February, while core prices rose by the most in 13 months.

Cattle traders said there is also growing concern in the market that beef export demand could collapse under greater pressure if the Trump administration does impose additional tariffs next week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that net U.S. beef export sales fell to their lowest level since late December last week following news that China had allowed hundreds of U.S. meatpacking plants to revoke their registrations allowing exports .

WEEKLY COST OF CUTLERY CUT.CHOICE

CATTLE SALES

Sale of cattle, heads

Average weight

Week 12

Week 13

Weekly growth,%

Week 12

Week 13

Weekly growth,%

Bulls (live weight)

3,569

1,513

Heifers (live weight)

1,247

1,358

Bulls (slaughter weight)

1,472

983

Heifers (slaughter weight)

713

822

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE OF BULLS

BEEF PRODUCTION                                                                     

Indicator

Week 13

Previous week

A year ago

Weekly growth,%

Growth per year, %

Volume of cattle slaughter

609,000

560,000

582,000

8.7%

4.6%

Live weight

1,430

1,431

1,398

-0.1%

2.3%

Slaughter weight

870

871

848

-0.1%

2.6%

Beef production (million pounds)

529.0

487.0

493.0

8.6%

7.3%

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 12

Week 13

Weekly growth,%

April

206.95

208.83

0.9%

June

202.78

204.85

1.0%

August

199.35

201.00

0.8%

CME: Feeder Cattle Futures

April

284.98

286.93

0.7%

May

285.10

285.18

0.0%

August

290.65

289.68

-0.3%

You can learn more about the state of the US cattle market (cattle prices , beef prices by category, and production trends) in Meatinfo.ru's weekly meat market reviews in Russia and globally. Weekly reviews are available with a subscription.