Download PDF The beef cutouts eased a little bit this week, with the Choice down $2.08 to average $314.96/cwt. and the Select off $0.43 to average $290.17/cwt. That marks the first softening of the cutouts in four weeks and may signal that the restricted kill strategy packers’ have been employing is unable to lift beef …
Download PDF It was another good week for the beef cutouts, with the Choice gaining $6.64/cwt. on a weekly average basis and the Select adding $6.03/cwt. That helped packer margins considerably and, on top of that, packers managed to buy cattle at an average price that was about $2 below last week’s average. Trade in …
Download PDF Well, it finally happened. Bellies came crashing down today, with the primal falling an eye-popping $58/cwt. in a single day. That, in turn, drove the cutout $11 lower on the day. Interestingly, nearly the exact same thing happened to bellies on August 23rd last year. That marked the beginning of a very long …
Download PDF The pork cutout continued lower this week, dropping $4.13/cwt. on a weekly average basis to $107.79. Cash hog prices were also in retreat with the WCB negotiated market losing $3.47/cwt to average $94.26/cwt. Once again, it was losses by the bellies that were largely responsible for bringing the cutout down. Hams also turned …
Download PDF Packers’ efforts to improve their margins by cutting back on the kill finally started to pay dividends this week. That tightened up beef availability enough so that, when combined with a boost in demand ahead of Labor Day, the Choice cutout was able to add $8/cwt. to average $310.40 for the week and …
Download PDF Prices in the hog and pork complex took a step lower this week and in doing so, they have cemented the top in the summer market and begun the long slide lower into winter. After being mostly straight up since April, the cutout dropped $2.98/cwt. to average $111.92. Right on cue, the negotiated …
Download PDF The beef cutouts eased a little lower this week, with the Choice losing $0.56/cwt. to average $302.41 on the week and the Select dropped $1.05/cwt to average $276.87. For about a month now, the Choice cutout has been stuck between $300 and $305 and the Select cutout has held mostly in the $275-280 …
Download PDF The hog and pork complex is starting to behave as if it is approaching a top after rising persistently since April. It looks like it is going to be one of those tops that is carved out gradually, rather than abruptly. This week the cutout only advanced $0.57/cwt on a weekly average basis …
