Download PDF Beef packers finally found a way to cool off the cattle market—just buy a lot less cattle. It looks like this week’s average cash price is going to come in around $144.50, down a little over $2 from last week’s average. However, packers only bought about two-thirds of the volume that they purchased …
Download PDF The hog and pork complex continued to ease lower this week asthe cutout dropped $3.02/cwt and the WCB negotiated marketwas down $3.32/cwt. The losses in the cutout were largelydriven by big declines in the belly primal. Hams also moved alittle lower, but the downtrend there seems to be slowing.Perhaps the most surprising event …
Download PDF Cash cattle prices advanced again this week, gaining $2.37 toaverage $146.76. As usual, prices in the North were reportedseveral dollars over the South, which traded in the $141-142range. While packers’ cattle cost was rising, the price they gotfor their beef was not. The Choice cutout gained a paltry $0.45/cwt and the Select cutout …
Download PDF The pork cutout took another step lower this week, dropping $3.46/ cwt to average $123.34. Unfortunately for packers, the cost of hogs going into their plants increased this week. The LHI was up only $0.40/cwt, but the WCB negotiated market gained $3.61/cwt. The falling cutout combined with rising hog prices caused packer margins …
Download PDF This was a week for compressing packer margins as the cutouts slidlower and cash cattle prices surged higher. The Choice cutout lost$3.34/cwt on a weekly average basis and the Select was down $2.82/cwt. The cash cattle market, on the other hand, was on fire this weekwith the weekly average price up $3.50/cwt from …
