CZ Cattle Market Analytics analyst Ed Czerwien from Amarillo, TX, provides the following boxed beef and fed cattle recaps for the week ending April 3, 2021.
Weekly boxed beef recap for week ending April 3, 2021:
The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week on Friday Apr 2 at 252.85 which was $15.19 higher compared to previous Friday. Last year it was 230.44 on the same Friday which was $22.40 lower after jumping $45.61 higher the previous weeks, during the panic retail buying ahead of the packing plant shutdowns for the medical epidemic. However, last year continued to drop lower for just a couple of weeks but then skyrocketed much higher during the packing plant shutdowns. The end of this week the daily chuck and round primals were 2 to 7 higher. The daily Choice rib and loin primal were 30 to 31 higher as we are approaching the grilling season. The weekly total for the daily cutout was 565 loads and about 8 % of the weekly total loads sold.
The weekly average Choice cutout which includes all types of sales including the daily Choice cutout was 238.72 which was $7.44 higher.
The total sales were 6712 total loads sold for the week which was 1166 loads lower than the previous week.
The out-front sales which get delivered after 21 days were 1509 loads which was 932 loads lower than last week.
The exports as reported on the Box Beef report were 1072 loads which was good yet but 719 loads lower compared to the previous week. This week 132 loads were sold to our NAFTA neighbors and 940 loads were going overseas.
Formula sales were at 3397 loads which was 25 loads higher than last week and about 51 percent of the total loads sold this week. The formula sales included about 2.1 millions lbs of Choice ribeye products along with 1 million lbs of Choice loin strips so steak products are continuing to have good volume.
Taking a look at the major primal cuts which impact the cutout value. The weekly average Choice Chuck and Round primal were 3 lower to 3 higher. The weekly average Choice Rib primal was 13 higher and the weekly average Choice Loin was 23 higher. However, both of these are still in the time of the year when the barbeque season rally takes place, so they should continue to improve even more soon.
The daily cow cutout ended the week on Friday April 02 was $ 1.36 higher at 189.25 and the 90% trimmings were at 232.93 which was $ 1.61 higher compared to the previous Friday.
The latest report of Imported meat passed for entry into the U.S. for week ending Mar 27 showed 20,408 metric tons of fresh beef which was about 700 higher than the previous week but about 5300 lower than last year. The year to date total for these imports is 9 % lower than last year. The top 4 countries are Canada which is number one and is 10 % higher than last year, Mexico is the second highest but 6 % lower than last year, New Zealand is 7 % higher, and Australia which is 46 % lower.
Weekly fed cattle recap for week ending April 3, 2021:
The feedlot cattle trades for WE Apr 03 were mostly 2 to 3 higher and the cash sales volume was lower than the previous week. The Five-area formula sales volume totaled 233,764 head compared to about 242,000 the previous week. The Five-area total cash steer and heifer volume was 67,077 head compared to about 84,000 head the previous week.
Nationally reported forward contracted cattle harvested was about 39,000 head this week and packers have 272,000 head for April. The nationally reported 15-30 day delivery purchases this week were 35,956 head along with about 35,000 head the previous week. The packers still have big numbers with many weeks of big 15-30 day delivery and forward contracts to use yet.
Now looking at the prices. The weekly weighted average cash steer price for WE 04/03/21 for the five-area region was 118.08, which was $2.49 higher compared to the previous week and last year the same week it was 111.08 which was about $8.20 lower that week last year. The current five area weighted average live steer formula price was 117.20 this week and the live formula heifer price was 118.29.
The weighted average Five-area cash dressed steer price was 189.36 which was $4.49 higher. The five-area weighted average formula price which is steers and heifers was 185.69 which was $1.87 higher.
The estimated weekly total FIS cattle harvest was reported at 609,000 head and compared to 631,000 head the same week last year.
The latest average National steer carcass weight for WE Mar 20 was 901 lbs which was 3 lbs lower than the previous week and compared to 898 lbs the same week last year which was 3 lbs lower than the previous week last year.
Choice-Select spread on Friday was at 5.88 compared to 9.89 the previous week and that compared to 14.60 spread last year.
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