USA: Cattle market overview for the 6th week of 2022

Livestock futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) edged lower on Friday as the market retreated from contract highs reached last week. traders say.

MEAT processors such as Tyson Foods and JBS usa sent about 120,000 cattle for slaughter on Friday, up 5.3% from a week ago and 12.1% from a year ago, the Department of Agriculture said. US economy (USDA).

April livestock prices fell 0.700 cents to 146.175 cents a pound after rising to a contract high of 148.700 cents on Thursday. The March feedstock contract closed 0.500 cents lower at 166.225 cents a pound.

Beef processors' profit margin was $268.60 per HEAD of cattle, up from $298.45 per head Thursday and $371.75 per head a week ago, Denver livestock marketing consultancy HedgersEdge.com LLC said.

 The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) last week released its Jan. 1 Cattle Inventory Report, which details the size of the beef cow herd and changes at the state level. The U.S. beef cow population is down 719,000 year-over-year and there have been significant changes in key states. Among the largest reductions in the number of beef cows are South Dakota (-189 thousand heads), Texas (-160 thousand heads), Missouri (-94 thousand heads) and Montana (-90 thousand heads). There were some surprises in the states that added cows after a year of severe drought: Idaho added 34,000 head, Washington added 13,000 head, and California added 20,000 head.

Cattle numbers were slightly lower than analysts had expected for the breeding herd and indicated more limited cattle stocks due to smaller stock under 500 pounds and those outside the feedlots. This will drive up feedstock prices in 2022. The USDA has revised its cattle price projections to reflect a more limited feedstock supply in 2022 and reduced production in 2023.

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WEEKLY CUT CHOICE CAT.CHOICE CATTLE SALE

Sale of livestock, heads

Average weight

04.02.2022

02/11/2022

Growth per week,%

04.02.2022

02/11/2022

Growth,%

Bulls (live weight)

29 605

31 495

6.4%

1513

1501

-0.8%

Heifers (live weight)

13 870

18 745

35.1%

1 332

1 351

1.4%

Bulls (slaughter. weight)

16 559

11 757

-29.0%

964

972

0.8%

Heifers (slaughter weight)

6 264

6 599

5.3%

862

871

1.0%

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE OF BULLS

BEEF PRODUCTION

Slaughter volume

6 week

5 week 2022

6 week 2021

Growth per week,%

Growth per year,%

Live weight

659 000

639 000

606 000

3.1%

8.7%

slaughter weight

1402

1400

1399

0.1%

0.2%

Beef production (million pounds)

843

842

843

0.1%

0.0%

Beef production (thousand tons)

554.3

537.0

510.1

3.2%

8.7%

CME, Livestock Futures

Week 5

Week 6

Growth per week,%

February

142.05

141.88

-0.1%

April

146.88

146.18

-0.5%

June

141.38

141.13

-0.2%

CME, Fattener Cattle Futures

March

166.10

166.23

0.1%

April

171.43

170.70

-0.4%

May

175.35

174.75

-0.3%

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