CZ Cattle Market Analytics analyst Ed Czerwien from Amarillo, TX, provides the following fed cattle and boxed beef recaps for the week ending Jan. 9, 2021.
Boxed beef recap:
The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week on Friday Jan 8 at 206.80 which was $ 3.15 lower compared to previous Friday but had been a little lower mid-week. Last year it was 210.04 on the same Friday which was $ 1.55 higher. This week the daily Choice loin primal was 5 lower but the chuck and round primals were only 1 lower to 6 higher. However, the daily Choice rib primal was 36 lower this week which did push the cutout lower, but it will soon help the cutout more after it quits dropping lower as the new year proceeds. The weekly total for the daily cutout was 824 loads and about 11 % of the weekly total loads sold.
The weekly average Choice cutout which includes all types of sales including the daily Choice cutout was 204.80 which was $1.94 lower. The last two years that had a bigger jump higher during the Prime rib type cooking during the holidays also had a bigger drop lower on the heels of the normal big late December drop for the Choice rib primal.
There were 7273 total loads sold for the week which was 1054 loads higher than the previous week.
The out-front sales which get delivered after 21 days were 1490 loads which was 405 loads higher than last week. The largest out-front sales this week included 1.5 million lbs of Choice ribeyes that were 90 dollars per cwt cheaper than the formula price along with about 1.5 million lbs of Choice round products that were 12-16 dollars per cwt lower priced than the same formula products.
The exports as reported on the Box Beef report were 819 loads and that was only 9 loads lower compared to the previous week. This week 118 loads were sold to our NAFTA neighbors and 701 loads were going overseas
Formula sales were at 3540 loads which was 243 loads higher than last week and about 49 percent of the total loads sold this week.
Taking a look at the major primal cuts. The weekly average Choice Chuck and Round primal were 3 lower to 3 higher. The weekly average Choice loin primal was 3 lower. The weekly average Choice rib was 15 lower and no doubt impacted by the out-front sales along with the daily sales but should start to improve soon after the normal late December and early January drop.
The daily cow cutout ended the week on Friday was $ 1.46 higher at 174.94 and the 90% trimmings were at 213.89 which was $ 2.60 higher compared to the previous Friday.
The latest report of Imported meat passed for entry into the U.S. for week ending Jan 02 showed 13,411 metric tons of fresh beef which was about 1000 higher than the previous week and about 1200 lower than last year. The year to date total for these imports is now 9 % lower than last year.
Fed cattle recap:
The feedlot cattle trades for WE Jan 09 were mostly steady to 1 lower and the cash sales volume was lower than the previous week.
The Five-area formula sales volume totaled 234,694 head compared to about 183,000 the previous week. The Five-area total cash steer and heifer volume was 65,796 head compared to about 72,000 head the previous week.
Nationally reported forward contracted cattle harvested was about 39,000 head this week. The nationally reported 15-30 day delivery purchases this week were 26,915 head along with about 22,000 head the previous week.
Now looking at the prices. The weekly weighted average cash steer price for the five-area region was 111.27, which was $0.24 lower compared to the previous week and last year the same week it was 124.47 which was about $0.25 higher that week last year. The current five area weighted average live steer formula price was 113.32 this week but the live formula heifer price was 114.31.
The weighted average Five-area cash dressed steer price was 175.79 which was $0.12 higher. The five-area weighted average formula price which is steers and heifers was 178.59 which was $3.78 higher.
The estimated weekly total FIS cattle harvest was reported at 651,000 head which compared to 643,000 head the same week last year.
The latest average National steer carcass weight for WE Dec 26 was 913 lbs which was 8 lbs lower than the previous week and compared to 905 lbs the same week last year which was 1 lbs higher than the previous week last year.
Choice-Select spread on Friday was at 10.11 compared to 14.30 the previous week and that compared to 3.49 spread last year.
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