US: Cattle Market Review Week 6, February 10, 2025

Cash and futures prices have recently hit record highs as U.S. cattle supplies are tight after farmers cut their herds due to drought. But cash prices have fallen $2 to $3 a hundredweight this week compared with last week, traders said.

Funds have been selling futures after recently making big bets on rising prices, said Austin Schroeder, a commodity analyst at Brugler Marketing & Management. "They've sold off the market pretty badly," Schroeder said.

The most-active CME April live cattle futures contract settled Friday at 196.775 cents a pound, while the March feeder cattle contract fell 0.4 cent to 264.9 cents a pound. Both set four-week lows during the previous session.

HedgersEdge.com estimates that beef processors such as Tyson Foods and Cargill were losing about $200 per HEAD of cattle slaughtered amid high cattle prices and low supply.

Beef prices have fallen and MEAT processors have cut the number of cattle they slaughter to 100,000 from 114,000 a week ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Margins are shrinking," Schroeder said. "Meatpackers can't always pay for cattle."

Traders have become less concerned about the risk of tariff disputes with CANADA and Mexico that could disrupt livestock supplies to the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday delayed plans for tariffs on Mexico and Canada by a month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also said over the weekend it would resume imports of cattle from Mexico, which the agency had blocked since late November because of the pest found south of the border.

WEEKLY COST OF CUT OUT CAT.CHOICE

CATTLE SALES

Sale of cattle, heads

Average weight

Week 5

Week 6

Growth per week,%

Week 5

Week 6

Growth per week,%

Bulls (live weight)

10 735

24 386

127.2%

1 491

1 529

2.5%

Heifers (live weight)

5 719

9 165

60.3%

1 338

1 336

-0.1%

Bulls (slaughter weight)

7 786

12 938

66.2%

984

986

0.2%

Heifers (slaughter weight)

804

2 347

191.9%

851

851

0.0%

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE BULL PRICE

BEEF PRODUCTION                                                                     

Indicator

Week 6

Previous week

A year ago

Growth per week,%

Growth per year, %

Volume of cattle slaughter

584,000

600,000

617,000

-2.7%

-5.3%

Live weight

1 442

1,447

1 382

-0.3%

4.3%

Slaughter weight

876

879

829

-0.3%

5.7%

Beef Production (million pounds)

510.6

526.4

510.3

-3.0%

0.1%

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 5

Week 6

Growth per week,%

February

204.60

200.78

-1.9%

April

202.30

196.78

-2.7%

June

196.70

192.10

-2.3%

CME: Feeder Cattle Futures

March

275.73

264.90

-3.9%

April

275.13

264.83

-3.7%

May

273.13

263.60

-3.5%

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.