Cattle Strength Continues this Week
![Cows in pen looking at camera](https://media.barchart.com/contributors-admin/common-images/images/Livestock/Dairy/Cows in pen looking at camera.jpg)
Live cattle futures closed out the Thursday session with gains of 15 cents to $2.325. Cash trade has been quiet this week, with Thursday’s Central Stockyards Fed Cattle Exchange auction showing sales of $191 on a couple TX lots using their BidTheGrid™. Outside of that, there were sales of $190 in the South. Feeder cattle futures were up 32 cents to $1.50. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up 67 cents at $259.06 on July 24.
Weekly beef Export Sales totaled 13,400 MT during the week that ended on July 18, a 13% decline from last week. Actual sales totaled 16,300 MT, a 5% increase on the week.
The monthly NASS Cold Storage report reported 410.3 million lb of beef stocks at the end of June. That was 0.11% below the same month in 2023 and a 2.68% decline vs. May 31.
USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were back to mixed in Thursday afternoon’s report, with Choice boxes down 22 cents at $312.46 and Select products $1.15 higher @ $295.11. The Chc/Sel spread has narrowed to $17.35. USDA estimated Thursday FI slaughter at 120,000 head, putting the week to date at 480.000. That is 5,000 head above last week and 16,768 head below a year ago.
Aug 24 Live Cattle closed at $188.900, up $2.000,
Oct 24 Live Cattle closed at $188.600, up $2.325,
Dec 24 Live Cattle closed at $188.900, up $1.625,
Aug 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $258.625, up $1.500,
Sep 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $257.900, up $1.200,
Oct 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $257.075, up $0.700,
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.