USA: Cattle market review for week 14 from April 8, 2024

Technical selling accelerated the market's decline as prices fell below lows recorded earlier in the week.

Despite assurances from some government officials that the food supply is secure, investors are concerned that negative headlines about the increasing spread of avian flu in dairy cattle could dampen consumer appetite for beef.

With futures markets closed until Monday's trading session, investors have covered long positions in case more negative news emerges over the weekend.

“Funds are moving into safety because of news headlines,” said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics.

U.S. officials said Thursday that bird flu first infected a dairy herd in Ohio and has been detected in additional herds in Kansas and New Mexico. On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a bird flu warning.

The June CME live cattle contract fell to a low of 171,400, its lowest level since Jan. 16, and was down 3,800 cents at 172,050 cents a pound.

Feeder cattle futures followed declines in live cattle prices, with actively traded May futures falling 5,700 cents to 238.175 cents a pound.

WEEKLY COST OF CUTTINGS CAT.CHOICE

CATTLE SALES

Sale of livestock, heads

Average weight

Week 13

Week 14

Weekly growth,%

Week 13

Week 14

Weekly growth,%

Bulls (live weight)

18,028

13,613

-24.5%

1 456

1,544

6.0%

Heifers (live weight)

11,957

4,828

-59.6%

1 371

1 361

-0.7%

Steers (slaughter weight)

2,576

10,984

326.4%

938

956

1.9%

Heifers (slaughter weight)

2,964

4,971

67.7%

848

864

1.9%

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE OF CALLS

BEEF PRODUCTION

Index

Week 14

Previous week

A year ago

Weekly growth,%

Growth over the year, %

Slaughter volume

609,000

586,000

605,000

3.9%

0.7%

Live weight

1 395

1 392

1 361

0.2%

2.5%

Slaughter weight

845

843

820

0.2%

3.0%

Beef production (million pounds)

513.7

493.0

494.5

4.2%

3.9%

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 13

Week 14

Weekly growth,%

April

185.00

178.25

-3.6%

June

180.25

172.05

-4.5%

August

178.20

169.98

-4.6%

CME: Feeder Cattle Futures

April

247.13

237.70

-3.8%

May

248.70

238.18

-4.2%

August

254.63

248.63

-2.4%

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