Large commodity investment funds, known as managed money, cut their collective net long live cattle futures position for the second straight week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC released the data for the week ended last Tuesday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Monday.  The report was delayed from … Read More

Higher-than-expected US 2017 cow/calf producer returns may erode for the next two years, possibly dropping into the red, if beef demand falters in any way, said the Livestock Marketing Information Center. In its “Livestock Monitor,” the LMIC said cyclically, US calf crops are forecast to continue increasing throughout 2019.  Beef tonnage for 2018 was expected … Read More

Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Oct. 31 were down about 1% from a month earlier, but were down 2% from last year as beef poundage rose about 2% from October but fell 5% from 2016. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service issued the data in its November Cold Storage report and added … Read More

Total US red meat and poultry production has a good chance of continuing to expand through 2019, said the Denver, Col.-based Livestock Marketing Information Center. Taking off from USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service data, the LMIC projected beef, pork, poultry and even lamb and mutton production on a quarterly basis through 2019.  With few exceptions, … Read More

The USDA’s Economic Research Service raised its estimate of 2017 US beef trade with foreign countries saying imports were expected to be up while export demand remained strong. The ERS made its estimates Thursday in its monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook.   BEEF IMPORT ESTIMATE RAISED   US beef imports were up 5% in … Read More

Large commodity investment firms, called managed money, shaved their near-record-large net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Thursday, said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. Managed money’s new net long live cattle position was 131,370 contracts, down only 315, or 0.24%, from 131,685 the previous … Read More

The USDA’s Economic Research Service reduced its 2017 US commercial beef production forecast by almost 150 million pounds from October to 26.4 billion pounds on fewer fourth-quarter steer and heifer marketings and lighter carcass weights. Thursday’s Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook said data on federally inspected slaughter indicate that significantly more cows were being slaughtered … Read More