Mother’s Dat shopping? Done.
Federally Inspected cattle harvest in mid-April was again slightly up from its previous week (2%), estimated at 623,000. That was still well off of last years’ mark as packers continue their reluctance to sizably increase the harvest in the face of moderate demand. After all, Mother’s Day is just around the corner… Analysts’ expectations coming into the week was for trade to occur at lower prices, but that didn’t happen: the futures market finished the week on a positive note and pushed cash cattle to trade $1 higher than previous week.
Boxed beef traded in a sideways fashion across all grades. Buyers had filled most of their needs for both Mother’s Day and Memorial Day holidays and are now looking to procure product for the first few weeks of June. Packer margins continue to run in the black due to favorable live cattle and boxed values. Additionally, drop credit (highly influenced by hide values) have also put in record high prices for the year. CAB acceptance for the week of 4/15 stood at 23%, one point below the previous week.
Until we meat again,
~David
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