Download PDF The biggest surprise in the hog and pork complex this week was the failure of the cutout to decline. We have become accustomed to weekly $1-3 declines in the cutout this fall, but this week the cutout actually averaged $0.13/cwt. higher than the week before. The big driver of this change in direction …
Download PDF Cash cattle trade was slow to develop this week and as of press time, packers and feeders in the Southern Plains remained in a standoff. Some light trade did occur in the North, with reported prices at mostly $185, which was steady with the week before. It was widely expected that cash trade …
Download PDF Compared to the cattle complex, the hog and pork complex was relatively sedate this week. The cutout drifted $1.79/cwt. lower on a weekly average basis and the WCB negotiated cash hog market averaged $1.12/cwt. lower. As a result, packer margins held pretty close to last week at $13/head. With production approaching its annual …
Download PDF This week was highlighted by a massive selloff in cattle futures. On Monday, the Dec LC contract fell below its 100-day moving average and that triggered a wave of selling that took most of the curve down $5-6/cwt. The initial impetus for the selling was the previous Friday’s Cattle on Feed report which …
Download PDF Hog and pork prices continued lower in normal seasonal fashion this week. The cutout dropped $3.87/cwt. on a weekly average basis to $88.76/cwt. and the WCB negotiated market was $1.38 lower to average $72.58/cwt. Given that the cutout was down more than cash hogs, packer margins compressed. I estimate packer margins at a …
Download PDF Packers did manage to achieve modest increases in the cutout this week with the Choice gaining $3.28/cwt. on a weekly average basis and the Select adding $2.18/cwt. Unfortunately for packers, that probably won’t help their bottom line much because they ended up pay more for cash cattle once again. In the Southern Plains, …
Download PDF This week’s surprise in the hog and pork complex was an increase in cash hog prices. The WCB negotiated market added $1.40/cwt. and the National Daily Direct negotiated market averaged $1.42/cwt. higher. At same time, the pork cutout was continuing on its downward path, dropping $2.06 to average $92.63. That put some pressure …
Download PDF If packers thought that buying a lot of cattle last week was going to help them pressure the cattle market this week, it didn’t work. Having no luck getting cattle bought at steady money, packers upped the bid on Wednesday and trade occurred in the South at mostly $183, $1 higher than the …
Download PDF It was a $3 week in the hog and pork complex. The WCB negotiated market lost $3.21/cwt. on a weekly average basis, the NDD market averaged $3.57 lower, sow prices dropped $3.58 and the cutout fell $3.11/cwt. Three dollars is more than we have seen in recent weeks, so the speed of price …
Download PDF Prices in the beef complex eased a little lower this week with the Choice cutout losing $0.92/cwt. and the Select cutout dropping $2.71/cwt. The Choice cutout averaged $299.94 for the week, the first sub-$300 average since mid-May. The cash cattle market reacted very similarly to the week before when a downdraft in the …