Amid continued tight supplies and strong demand, feeder cattle prices remain at historically high levels in many parts of the country, especially those near pasture.  What’s more, market analysts say these prices likely will remain high into next year. This year is a transition year, one where ranchers and farmers change from continually whittling their … Read More

Managed money virtually maintained its net long position in live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday as futures prices and open interest rose. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday released its latest report on the total commitments of traders as of Tuesday.  It shows managed money, or large speculative firms, with a net long … Read More

While many believe rising pork and poultry production and steady to lower beef production will cause price spreads to widen and consumers to switch beef purchases to competing meats, such notions are not chiseled in stone. Glynn Tonser, associate professor of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University said there is no reason to believe such … Read More

The USDA Wednesday lowered its forecast for 2015 total meat production to 95.137 billion pounds from 95.583 billion but raised its estimate of 2016 production to 97.383 billion from 97.178 billion, saying 2015 beef production will not be as high as was estimated just a month ago. The USDA made its estimates known in its … Read More

Feeder cattle futures prices rose over the last few days, prompting some technicians to say nearby contracts are becoming overbought.  Any setback, however, likely will be minimized by tight cash supplies for the time being, but will fall to rising supplies later. The CME Feeder Cattle Index, a weighted average price of feeder cattle auctions … Read More

Slaughter steer prices in the Southern Plains are at a decision point.  Do they follow the seasonal and trend lower into late July or follow last year’s market and turn higher? Last week’s light trade yielded an average Southern Plains price of $154.91 per cwt on a live basis, a drop of $4.97, or 3.11%, … Read More

Managed money held its net long live cattle futures position nearly steady during the week ended Tuesday, taking it to 92,553 positions from 91,551 the previous week and 92,046 the week before that. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report showed that the new position, as little changed as it was from … Read More