USA: Cattle market review for week 29 of 2023

Traders said the market faced pressure from profit-taking, but weakness in the corn market helped limit the fall.

August live cattle futures fell 0.3 cent to 180.025 cents a pound. The contract found technical support at its 10-day moving average.

The most active October live cattle contract fell 0.85 cent to 181.9 cents a pound, hitting a weekly low during the session.

August feeder cattle were up 0.825 cents at 245.925 cents per pound, below their 10-day moving average.

After trading closed, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said farmers are raising the fewest numbers of beef cows since at least 1971, indicating increased costs for meatpacking plants.

Separately, the USDA reported that producers placed 1.68 million HEAD of cattle in feedlots for slaughter in June, up 3% from 2022. Analysts on average expected animal placements to decline 1.6% from last year.

At the wholesale market, block beef prices rose $2.02 to $276.73 per cwt., while choice cut prices rose 18 cents, the USDA said.

WEEKLY COST OF CUTTINGS CAT.CHOICE

CATTLE SALES

Sale of livestock, heads

Average weight

Week 28

Week 29

Weekly growth,%

Week 28

Week 29

Weekly growth,%

Bulls (live weight)

7 300

8 542

17.0%

1 465

1 464

-0.1%

Heifers (live weight)

2,547

2 520

-1.1%

1 309

1 310

0.1%

Steers (slaughter weight)

2,542

2,561

0.7%

930

932

0.2%

Heifers (slaughter weight)

520

521

0.2%

806

807

0.1%

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE OF CALLS

BEEF PRODUCTION

Index

Week 29

Week 28

Week 29 2022

Weekly growth,%

Growth over the year, %

Slaughter volume

633,000

539,000

673,000

17.4%

-5.9%

Live weight

1 339

1 340

1 343

-0.1%

-0.3%

Slaughter weight

810

810

812

0.0%

-0.2%

Beef production (million pounds)

511.6

435.5

545.4

17.5%

-6.2%

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 28

Week 29

Weekly growth,%

August

180.18

180.03

-0.1%

October

182.63

181.90

-0.4%

December

185.78

185.18

-0.3%

Feeder cattle futures

August

246.65

245.93

-0.3%

September

249.32

249.28

0.0%

October

250.48

250.48

0.0%

You can find out more about the state of the cattle market in the usa (livestock prices, the 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 for free as part of a subscription to monthly meat analytics Russian markets.