Live cattle futures closed between $3.35 and $5.95 lower on Thursday, with feeder cattle also facing significant losses as contracts dropped by as much as the $9.25 limit. The May feeder cattle contract was down $1.60, while other months reached the daily loss cap, setting up expanded limits of $13.75 for feeders and $10.75 for live cattle in Friday’s session.
The drop comes amid limited cash trade activity this week, including a few sales at $260 in Kansas and $265 in northern regions. The Fed Cattle Exchange online auction reported no sales on 652 head offered Thursday, with bids reaching only $260.
The United States Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release its Cattle on Feed report Friday, which traders expect will show April placements up 3.4% from last year and marketings down 9.3%. The number of cattle on feed as of May 1 is projected to be 1.6% higher than the same period last year.
Beef export sales for the week ending May 14 totaled 8,095 metric tons for this year, slightly above the previous week according to available data. Shipments were reported at 12,263 metric tons—the third lowest weekly total so far this calendar year.
Wholesale boxed beef prices continued their decline Thursday afternoon; Choice boxes fell by $2.14 to reach $391.48 while Select boxes dropped by $5.48 to settle at $385.65—resulting in a Choice/Select spread of $5.83.
Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 109,000 head Thursday and totaled 427,000 head so far this week—up by about a thousand from last week but nearly forty-eight thousand below the same period last year.
