Live cattle markets are experiencing gains, with prices up 40 to 50 cents on Tuesday, following a neutral Cattle on Feed report released on Friday. Last week's cash trade saw southern prices at $187 and northern prices ranging from $192 to $193.50. Feeder cattle are leading the surge, with contracts up $3 to $4 midday, driven by the report confirming a slowdown in feeder placements. The CME Feeder Cattle index rose by $1.33 on May 23, reaching $250.14.
Friday’s Cattle on Feed data indicated a 5.8% decrease in April placements, totaling 1.656 million head, while April marketings increased by 10.12% to 1.872 million head. This brought the May 1 on-feed inventory to 11.554 million head, down 0.86% from the previous year. Additionally, Cold Storage data revealed 430.683 million pounds of beef in stock at the end of April, a 0.88% decrease from the previous month and a 4.73% drop compared to the same time last year.
USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices saw an increase on Tuesday morning. Choice boxes rose by $2.06 to $312.51, and Select boxes increased by $1.49 to $303.21, with the Choice/Select spread now at $9.30. USDA estimated that last week's federally inspected cattle slaughter totaled 607,000 head, which includes Saturday’s numbers. This figure is up by 9,000 head from the previous week but down by 14,295 head from the same week last year.
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