US: Cattle Market Review Week 50, December 16, 2024

"I think we saw some technical profit taking," he said.

Cash cattle traded at $191 in Kansas last week , up from $187 at the same time last month, according to broker StoneX.

Beef processors' losses were estimated at $62.05 per head on Thursday, down from $51.05 per head on Wednesday and $88.60 a week ago, according to marketing consultancy HedgersEdge.

Live cattle futures rose 22 cents to $1.52 on Friday. The February contract is up $5.85 for the week, driven by strength in the cash markets. In the cash markets, cattle prices in the South have settled at $191-$192 and in the North at $195-$196. Feeders have lost 60 cents to 90 cents on the session. The January contract is up $1.82 from last Friday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index is up $1.61 from the previous day to $262.59 on Dec. 12.

In its weekly export sales report, USDA said net beef export sales were 16,398 metric tons, up from 13,844 metric tons the week before.

WEEKLY COST OF CUT OUT CAT.CHOICE

CATTLE SALES

Sale of cattle, heads

Average weight

Week 50

Growth per week,%

Week 49

Week 50

Growth per week,%

Week 50

Bulls (live weight)

29 808

126.7%

1,554

1 541

-0.8%

29 808

Heifers (live weight)

10 445

2210.8%

1 359

1 357

-0.1%

10 445

Bulls (slaughter weight)

6 094

-4.8%

1,000

984

-1.6%

6 094

Heifers (slaughter weight)

1 503

163.7%

867

867

0.0%

1 503

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE BULL PRICE

BEEF PRODUCTION                                                                     

Indicator

Week 50

Previous week

A year ago

Growth per week,%

Growth per year, %

Volume of cattle slaughter

609,000

614,000

647,000

-0.8%

-5.9%

Live weight

1 429

1 428

1 403

0.1%

1.9%

Slaughter weight

868

868

850

0.0%

2.1%

Beef Production (million pounds)

527.2

531.5

548.7

-0.8%

-3.9%

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 49

Week 50

Growth per week,%

December

192.13

193.65

0.8%

February

190.85

192.03

0.6%

April

192.18

193,00

0.4%

CME: Feeder Cattle Futures

January

255.83

257.65

0.7%

March

258.58

257.68

-0.3%

April

259.23

258.53

-0.3%

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.