Absent other important fundamental or technical factors, critical decision points in futures market tend to hinge on round numbers.  At the very least, such numbers often generate a lot of attention. The Mar live cattle contract broke through the $200.00-per-cwt barrier on Jan. 23, generating more attention as prices surged to a contract high of … Read More

Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Jan. 31 were up about 3% from the previous month but down about 6% from last year, said the monthly Cold Storage report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Wednesday. Total frozen poultry supplies on Jan. 31 were up about 5% from the previous month but … Read More

Friday’s USDA-NASS Cattle on Feed report pegged the Feb. 1 feedlot inventory of those with 1,000 or more capacity at 11.716 million head, down 0.7% from a year ago. January fed cattle marketings were 101.4% of one year ago and placements were 101.7% of last year. The report also contained a summary of 2024 feedlot … Read More

Weekly average USDA choice 600- to 900-pound boxed beef prices are falling counter-seasonally amid marketplace ideas that consumer demand is fading. To be clear, the weekly average price listed by the USDA remains higher than last year and well above the 2019-2023 average, but it is falling.   WORRYING TO CATTLE, BEEF PRODUCERS   The … Read More

For the third straight week, large commodity investment firms, called managed money, liquidated a portion of their collective net long live cattle futures position as hedgers covered part of their total net short position. The data came from Friday’s weekly Commitments of Traders report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.   FUNDS NOT AS LONG … Read More

The number of cattle populating Canada’s feedlots on Jan. 1 was down from the same date in 2024 and down from the 2019-23 average, according to data from CanFax, a division of the Canadian Cattle Association. December placements, though, were up from 2023 and the previous five-year average. Data was collected from CanFax members in … Read More

  2-20-25 – With wholesale beef prices declining and packers thought to be deeply in the red, some are beginning to wonder if the bloom may be off the rose for cattle markets. It’s the wrong season to declare a decline in boxed beef prices a harbinger of things to come, but if the decline … Read More