Cattle Rally on Tariff Relief
Live cattle futures put on a late session rally on Wednesday, with contracts closing $3.75 to $4.75 higher on the tariff delay. There were no deliveries for April live cattle on Wednesday. Cash trade trickled in on Wednesday, with light action at $208. Yesterday morning’s Central Stockyards Fed Cattle Exchange showed no sales on the 1,450 head offered, with bids of $200 to $206.50.
Feeder cattle futures also rallied late on Wednesday, with contracts closing $3.32 to $6.47 higher. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up 8 cents on Tuesday, with the average price at $290.61.
Late on the Wednesday session, President Trump announced that there would be a 90-day tariff pause on the targeted countries with the exception being China. The blanket 10% tariff was left for all countries. The new tariffs on China were raised to 125%.
USDA’s National Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were down on Wednesday afternoon, as the Chc/Sel widened back out to $17.25. Choice boxes were down 24 cents at $337.89/cwt, with Select $1.45 lower to $320.61. Wednesday’s Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 123,000 head by the USDA, bringing the weekly total to 349,000 head. That was 2,000 head below the previous week and down 7,056 head from the same week last year.
Apr 25 Live Cattle closed at $202.800, up $3.700,
Jun 25 Live Cattle closed at $198.375, up $4.750,
Aug 25 Live Cattle closed at $195.000, up $4.550,
Apr 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $283.750, up $3.325,
May 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $278.200, up $6.475,
Aug 25 Feeder Cattle closed at $283.250, up $5.650,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.