As the day progresses, contracts continue to
fall lower into the day's expanded trading limits. As a whole, live
cattle contracts are trading $3.45 to $4.50 lower, feeder cattle
contracts are trading $4.77 to $6.75 lower and the lean hog market is
trading $3.87 to $4.50 lower. As the fear and worry of the coronavirus
outbreak continues to spread, livestock contracts are taking a major
hit. May corn is up 3/4 cent per bushel and May soybean meal is down
$1.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 344.16 points and NASDAQ
is up 104.98 points.
LIVE CATTLE
The live cattle contracts are tough to look at.
Not because they've suffered greater losses than the other livestock
contracts, but because from the April 2020 contract to the December 2020
contract, nothing is trading over $100. April live cattle are down
$4.50 at $95.57, June live cattle are down $4.25 at $90.00 and August
live cattle are $4.12 at $89.55. The $100 threshold is a big deal for
cattlemen; both mentally and financially, and as contracts wane lower,
good news isn't looming for the cash market.
I would like to highlight the boxed beef prices,
however. Thankfully the demand for beef has yet to dwindle and this
shouldn't be overlooked. Beef demand is what producers, feeders and
packers work for. If they don't have a product they can market, it makes
the rest of that they do extremely difficult. In the last year,
producers have fought long and hard against the fake meat battle, and in
times of utter chaos, beef is still sought after. There's no doubt that
the markets are going to be volatile for a while, and the economy will
most likely be stressed, but cattlemen stand strong, beef is essential
to America.
Boxed beef cutouts are higher: choice up $0.84
($206.85) and select up $4.23 ($202.11) with a movement of 79 loads
(51.77 loads of choice, 7.02 loads of select, zero loads of trim and
20.19 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE
Feeder cattle contracts are taking full
advantage of the limits expanded position as contracts fall anywhere
from $4.67 to $6.75. March feeders are down $5.25 at $113.57, April
feeders are down $6.37 at $112.65 and May feeders are down $6.72 at
$114.00. For the feeders in a position to buy calves at sale barns, the
market is flush with opportunity. But in the case of sellers, different
sales are reacting to the market differently as some barns struggle to
offer enough calves to interest buyers, and sale barns who have had
sales later in the week have had the board's volatility against them.
LEAN HOGS
Pork cutout values have still weathered the
storm exceptionally well, but the cash hog market dipped lower Friday
morning. April lean hogs are down $4.50 at $56.37, June lean hogs are
down $4.50 at $71.30 and July lean hogs are down $4.50 at $72.50. Like
the other contracts, the lean hogs market doesn't have any other option
but to trade lower in this current situation.
The projected lean hog index for 3/12/2020 is up
$0.54 at $58.86, and the actual index for 3/11/2020 is up $0.57 at
$58.32. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Morning Hog Report,
down $0.13 with a weighted average of $54.03, ranging from $47.00 to
$56.00 on 5,885 head sold and five-day rolling average of $52.74. Pork
cutouts totaled 233.15 loads with 221.26 loads of pork cuts and 11.90
loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.85, $70.04.
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| #completecalfcare |
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