Download PDF The pork cutout was down only a dollar on an average basis this week,but by the way the futures market reacted, you would think it fell $10.October LH futures were down every day this week, but the lossesreally accelerated late in the week, and the contract dropped over $7 intotal. I think there …
Download PDF Cash cattle markets were about $1 lower this week to $124.73 andthe cutouts were also on the defensive, with the Choice losing a littleover $7 on a weekly average basis and the Select down almost $11.That really expanded the Choice-Select spread, which now sits atalmost $34—extremely wide for this time of year. Over …
Download PDF Live cattle futures traders seem to have lost their optimism for thefuture. The Dec LC contract, which traded over $138 at one pointlast week, closed Friday just a little under $131. Why the suddenshift in expectations? Well, at least part of it has to be due to thefact that the futures got way …
Download PDF The hog and pork complex continued on its downward trajectory thisweek with both the cutout and negotiated hog prices droppingapproximately $5 on a weekly average basis. Meanwhile, the nearbyfutures rose $2. Go figure. The problem in the cutout seems to bealmost entirely limited to the bellies, with the other primals holding aboutsteady on …
Download PDF Cash cattle have only been lightly traded this week, with prices inthe South mostly $122-124 and prices in the North $3-4 over that.Available supplies are tighter in the North and the cattle from thatregion grade better, thus the higher price levels. Cattle feedershave been struggling to capture even a small portion of the …
Download PDF The hog and pork complex was on the defensive this week, with thecutout losing $6.25 on a weekly average basis and the negotiated hogmarkets dropping by more than $4. With the pork coming down fasterthan the hogs, packer margins compressed. By my calculation packermargins declined $9 this week to average $12.50. One thing …
Download PDF Beef prices continued to soar this week with the Choice cutout up$27 from the end of last week and the Select cutout up over $22.The chart below indicates that it is the middle meats that are now theprimary drivers of the price increases, with the end primals providingmuch less of the lift. That …
Download PDF This week the pork cutout softened a bit, losing about $3.25 on aweekly average basis. With the pork coming down faster than the hogmarkets, packer margins compressed, now sitting close to $21/head,down about $4 from last week. Pork by-product values have reallyescalated lately, up about 11% in only four weeks. By-product marketstend to …
Download PDF Cash cattle averaged about a dollar lower in the live markets thisweek at $122.84. The dressed markets, which are primarily in thenorth, were about $2 higher. Beef markets continued to soar withthe Choice adding almost $23 on a weekly average basis and theSelect adding a little over $18. At this rate, it won’t …
Download PDF The hog and pork complex was a little softer this week, as the cutoutdropped $2.10 on a weekly average basis and both the LHI and theNDD negotiated market were down about $1.50. The importantquestion is whether or not this week’s little dip in the cutout is thebeginning of a downtrend or just a …