Heading into Thursday's noon hour, contracts have switched roles from Wednesday's norm as cattle contracts are trading lower and lean hog contracts are $1.50 to $3.00 higher. Cash cattle trade has not fully taken off yet, though there is some cattle trading in Nebraska and Texas. July corn is steady and July soybean meal is down $2.00. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 319.53 points and NASDAQ is up 108.88 points.
LIVE CATTLE
Heading into the noon hour, live cattle contracts are unimpressed andlower. June live cattle are down $0.82 at $83.02, August live cattle are down $0.22 at $88.00 and October live cattle are down $0.40 at $93.15. Cash cattle trade has been mostly uneventful, although a light trade is being reported in parts of Nebraska at midday with dressed deals at $160, $3 higher than last week's weighted average; live deals are at $100, no worse than steady with last week.
Our concerns about this week's slaughter are ringing true. As of Wednesday, there has only been 255,000 head of cattle processed, which is down 10% from the previous week and down 28% from a year ago. On Wednesday, USDA shared the Cold Storage Report, which reported that there was 502.4 million pounds of beef in storage for the month of March - which is 11% greater than last year's figures. Up 11% may seem like a significant figure, but when you take into consideration that last week's slaughter was only 502,000 head (down 6.3% from the previous week, and 21.8% fewer than a year go) 11% won't go very far when feeding around 328 million people in the U.S. if the slaughter continues to dwindle.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $6.94 ($282.69) and select up $9.61 ($270.63) with a movement of 43 loads (21.57 loads of choice, 5.67 loads of select, 5.64 loads of trim 9.88 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE
Feeder cattle contracts are trading steadily lower with little excitement interesting traders to invest within the marketplace. May feeders are up $0.22 at $116.90, August feeders are down $0.42 at $126.77 and September feeders are down $0.80 at $127.82. Thankfully sale barns have had some interest this week in cattle that are ready to go to grass, which has kept prices strong for that market.
LEAN HOGS
Lean hog contracts are taking Thursday with stride, pushing the complex yet again steadily higher. June lean hogs are up $3.35 at $51.25, July lean hogs are up $3.00 at $54.20, and August lean hogs are up $2.47 at $57.62. The market's slow but steady pace over the last week has helped generate some mild support and traders continue to be interested as time progresses.
The projected lean hog index for 4/21/2020 is up $0.59, at $45.36 and the actual index for 4/20/2020 is up $0.22 at $44.77. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Afternoon Hog Report, down $0.79 with a weighted average of $33.72, ranging from $32.65 to $37.00 on 2,776 head sold and a five-day rolling average of $32.27. Pork cutouts total 141.71 loads with 119.44 loads of pork cuts and 22.28 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.98, $75.96.
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