Download PDF It was a bit of a “good news/bad news” week in the US cattle and beef complex. The good news was that packers were finally able to end the slide in the cutouts, as the Choice added $1.01 on a weekly average basis and the Select was up $3.23. The bad news was …
Download PDF The pork cutout advanced $4.60 this week on its way to averaging $104.78—the highest cutout in almost a year. This marks the second week in a row where the cutout has gained more than $4. Needless to say, there is a bull market going on in pork. The same cannot be said of …
Download PDF The previous week’s light kill didn’t seem to influence the cutouts much this week as the Choice dropped $4.67/cwt. on a weekly average basis and the Select was down $4.32/cwt. That’s bad news for packers, particularly since cattle feeders managed to reverse the direction of cash cattle prices this week, with prices in …
Download PDF The cash cattle market continued to ease this week, with the live trade in the North coming in at $196, down $2 from the previous week. In the South however, prices held steady at $188. My best guess at what USDA will report for the 5-area price on Monday is $193.50, down about …
Download PDF Well, it finally happened. The pork cutout came to life this week, adding $4.35 to average $100.18. That is the biggest increase in the cutout in over a year. The sharp gains were driven by the perfect storm of hams and bellies both moving higher at the same time. Both were on our …
Download PDF After watching their margin compress over the past few weeks, pork packers finally got some good news as cash hog prices eased while the cutout moved higher. I estimate this week’s margin near $6.50/head, up about $4 from the week before. The cutout added $1.26 on a weekly average basis as it moved …
Download PDF Prices in the cattle and beef complex finally took a step back this week. It started on Tuesday when the AM Choice cutout printed down almost $5 and that prompted the futures to move sharply lower. It was almost like a game of musical chairs that had run too long and everyone was …
Download PDF Pork packing margins continued to compress this week as the cutout dropped while negotiated hog prices were a little higher. The cutout lost $1.72/cwt. on a weekly average basis on its way to $94.57. That was the first sub-$95 weekly average since the end of March. The NDD negotiated market averaged $1.66 higher …
Download PDF Nobody told beef buyers that the dog days of summer are upon us because they were busy paying up for beef like it was early spring. The Choice cutout added $6.25/cwt. this week on its way to averaging $329.96 and the Select cutout was up $1.60 on a weekly average basis as it …
Download PDF Packer margins came under pressure this week as the cutout dropped and cash hog prices were a little higher. On a weekly average basis, the cutout was down $2.01 to $96.29 while the NDD negotiated market was $1.06 higher to $88.54. That left packer margins at only $5/head—a three-dollar drop from the week …