USA: Cattle market review for week 44 from November 7, 2023

CME December live cattle futures were down 0.800 cents at 183.875 cents a pound, while February futures ended down 1.200 cents at 185.225 cents.

Feeder cattle futures faced additional pressure from a rally in CBOT corn futures, signaling higher feed costs. January feeder cattle fell 2.425 cents to 239.750 cents a pound.

Cattle trading in cash markets was yet to take off as of Friday afternoon, traders said. Southern Plains feedlots held on to higher prices after cattle traded around $185/cwt last week.

"Whatever happens in the cash market will set the tone for Monday morning," said Houghton, an analyst at Brock Associates.

Wholesale beef prices have fallen.  

WEEKLY COST OF CUTTINGS CAT.CHOICE

CATTLE SALES

Sale of livestock, heads

Average weight

Week 43

Week 44

Weekly growth,%

Week 43

Week 44

Weekly growth,%

Bulls (live weight)

25 838

2 107

-91.8%

1,518

1 475

-2.8%

Heifers (live weight)

6,773

691

-89.8%

1 332

1 317

-1.1%

Steers (slaughter weight)

7,922

1 186

-85.0%

961

1,018

5.9%

Heifers (slaughter weight)

3 510

135

-96.2%

834

845

1.3%

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE OF CALLS

BEEF PRODUCTION

Index

Week 44

Previous week

A year ago

Weekly growth,%

Growth over the year, %

Slaughter volume

632,000

636,000

668,000

-0.6%

-5.4%

Live weight

1 377

1 373

1 381

0.3%

-0.3%

Slaughter weight

833

831

835

0.2%

-0.2%

Beef production (million pounds)

525.0

527.0

556.3

-0.4%

-5.6%

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 43

Week 44

Weekly growth,%

December

182.23

183.88

0.9%

February

182.95

185.23

1.2%

April

187.55

187.83

0.1%

Feeder cattle futures

November

236.90

240.60

1.6%

January

235.70

239.75

1.7%

March

238.58

242.35

1.6%

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.