The livestock complex is mixed heading into Thursday afternoon as the lean hog market continues to advance higher, the live cattle futures are chopping sideways and feeders are lower and watching the grain markets intensely. March corn is down 1/2 cent per bushel and March soybean meal is down $1.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 372.53 points and NASDAQ is down 239.71 points.
LIVE CATTLE:The live cattle complex is continuing to chop sideways as the futures are unwilling to take on resistance at $148. Thursday's export report came as good news, but it wasn't a strong enough push in sales to really send the contracts jolting higher. The cash cattle market hasn't seen any more interest, but if this week's trade is going to amount to much, we still need to see some cattle sell -- especially in the North. For cattle left to sell, feedlots are asking $143-plus in the South and $227-plus in the North. February live cattle are up $0.22 at $143.35, April live cattle are down $0.30 at $146.62 and June live cattle are down $0.22 at $142.02. Showlists are extremely current and, with the market continuing to run fast chain speeds, front end supplies of market-ready cattle won't likely stress the cash market until summer.
Beef net export sales of 23,000 metric tons (mt) for 2022 were up 18% from the previous week and up 38% from the prior 4-week average. The three largest buyers were South Korea (10,100 mt), Japan (7,200 mt) and Canada (1,600 mt).
Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice up $0.70 ($270.32) and select down $0.64 ($265.44) with a movement of 105 loads (60.68 loads of choice, 21.87 loads of select, 14.95 loads of trim and 7.86 loads of ground beef).
FEEDER CATTLE:The feeder cattle complex is sent trailing lower as the market can't find sufficient support. March feeders are down $1.40 at $166.05, April feeders are down $1.12 at $171.05 and May feeders are down $0.95 at $175.60. With the grain complex unable to level out due to the Ukraine/Russia circumstances, the feeder cattle complex will continue to dip-dodge accordingly to the grain market's developments as feed prices are so high and feeders have to be extremely cautious with their cost of gains.
LEAN HOGS:The lean hog complex continues to push higher, higher and higher yet again! April lean hogs are up $1.72 at $107.12, June lean hogs are up $1.55 at $116.50 and July lean hogs are up $1.50 at $115.47. We know not to put too much faith into the midday pork cutout value, but with an uptick at noon over $11.00 stronger, it's very likely Thursday's afternoon report shares higher prices as well, which continues to add support to the already bullish market. Packers were aggressive in cash hog markets Tuesday and Wednesday, but come Thursday their willingness to keep chasing hogs grew thin as they secured enough supplies in the last two days for nearby needs. You may have thought the weaker export report would come as crushing news to the market, but the market understands there are cheaper hogs for foreign countries to buy and the pork export market isn't going to be as grandiose this year; thankfully domestic demand is as strong as it is.
Pork net export sales of 18,300 mt for 2022 were up 1% from the previous week but down 46% from the prior 4-week average. The three largest buyers were Mexico (4,800 mt), South Korea (3,400 mt) and Japan (3,300 mt).
The projected CME Lean Hog Index for 2/15/2022 is up $1.50 at $93.34 and the actual index for 2/14/2022 is up $1.33 at $91.84. Hog prices are not available due to confidentiality issues -- but we can see that 2,510 head have sold and the five-day moving average now sits at $84.75. Pork cutouts total 162.17 loads with 138.83 loads of pork cuts and 23.34 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $11.04, $117.56.
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