Monday, April 20, 2020

Monday Midday Livestock Market Summary - JBS Closes Worthington, Minnesota, Pork Plant

General Comments
The biggest news rolling into the noon hour comes from JBS which shared that they would be closing their pork facility in Worthington, Minnesota, indefinitely. The facility processes 20,000 hogs a day and employs more than 2,000 workers. May corn is down 8 1/4 cents per bushel and July soybean meal is down $1.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 234.42 points and NASDAQ is up 11.37 points.
LIVE CATTLE
Live cattle contracts have had a tough go Monday morning. Initially contracts started the day lower, then cautiously traded higher for a hour or so and now at the noon hour are lower again. June live cattle are down $0.45 at $85.85, August live cattle are down $0.50 at $90.60 and October live cattle are down $0.30 at $95.87. Cash cattle trade has yet to reveal itself this week and will most likely trade in the latter part of the week again. Show lists for the week are mixed, mostly higher in most feeding states but lower in Nebraska and Colorado.
Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $7.83 ($246.82) and select up $8.83 ($236.03) with a movement of 65 loads (32.94 loads of choice, 5.15 loads of select, 8.65 loads of trim and 18.08 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE
Feeder cattle contracts have been hesitant about trading higher and as the day progresses and it doesn't look like they are going jump higher any time soon. May feeders are down $1.32 at $117.95, August feeders are down $0.12 at $128.27 and September feeders are down $0.57 at $129.40. Without fat cattle leaving the feedlots at the pace they historically do; it makes it hard for greener feeder cattle to make it into the feedlots as space is unavailable.
LEAN HOGS
My fingers nearly buckle and refuse to write that another pork facility has closed but the reality is that another one has -- regardless of what we'd like to see instead. At this point keeping track of what plants are open and which plants are running at only half capacity is no small job. The protein supply chain is being challenged like never before, for both cattle and hogs.
Although the industry has heard another tremble of bad news the lean on market still trades $1.00 to $2.00 higher. June lean hogs are up $2.90 at $46.65, July lean hogs are up $1.95 at $53.87 and August lean hogs are up $2.27 at $58.67. The projected lean hog index for 4/17/2020 is down $0.40 at $44.55 and the actual lean hog index for 4/16/2020 is down $0.77 at $44.95. Hog prices are lower on the National Direct Morning Hog Report, down $0.20 with a weighted average of $31.84, ranging from $30.00 to $33.00 on 2,722 head sold and a five-day rolling average of $33.54. Pork cutouts totaled 166.69 loads with 147.31 loads of pork cuts and 19.38 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $6.86, $66.99.


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