Posted April 23, 2024
Week ending April 19, 2024
Fed cattle trade closed the week with values mostly steady to higher. Cash trade held mostly steady, with northern trade closing the week $1 lower at $183. Southern trade held steady at $182. Live cattle futures were up for the week, closing $2.50 to $4.80 higher across the front three months of trade.
Feeder and stocker cattle trade saw variable change through the week. The national average price for stocker steers closed the week at $314.87, which was $4.71 lower from the week before. Trade varied from $1 to $6 lower. The national average price for feeder steers ended at $254.34, which was only $0.09 higher from the week before. Trade varied from $2 lower to $2 higher. Across the front three months of trade, futures closed $3.72 to $8 higher.
Boxed beef cutouts closed the week lower. The Choice cutout closed at $295.67, $4.90 lower than the week prior. The Select cutout was down $4.71, at $290.83. The Choice/Select spread narrowed by $0.19, closing at $4.84 for the week.
The cutter cow cutout closed up $0.15 at $269.72. Slaughter cow trade varied from $4 lower to $1 higher for the week.
Total red meat production for last week was estimated to be at 1,063.5 million lb. This is 1.5% higher than last week’s report and 1.8% higher than a year ago. Cumulative red meat production for the year to date is 1.3% lower than a year ago. Hot carcass weights for the last week averaged 919 lb., compared to 923 lb. the previous week and 892 lb. one year ago.