CZ Cattle Market Analytics analyst Ed Czerwien from Amarillo, TX, provides the following fed cattle and boxed beef recaps for the week ending May 29, 2021.
Fed cattle recap:
The feedlot cattle trades for WE May 29 were mostly steady and the cash sales volume was higher than the previous week.
The Five-area formula sales volume totaled 237,323 head compared to about 233,000 the previous week. The Five-area total cash steer and heifer volume was 74,323 head compared to about 69,000 head the previous week.
Nationally reported forward contracted cattle harvested was about 50,000 head this week and packers had 247,000 head for May along with 194,000 head for June. The nationally reported 15-30 day delivery purchases this week were 12,367 head along with 24,000 head for the previous week.
Now looking at the prices. The weekly weighted average cash steer price for the five-area region was $119.64, which was only $0.08 lower compared to the previous week and last year the same week it was $115.71 which was about $1.35 lower that week last year. The same week in 2015 it was $159.42 even though the daily Choice cutout now was 75 dollars higher than 2015.
This week the current five area weighted average live steer formula price was $121.41 this week and the live formula heifer price was $122.61.
The weighted average Five-area cash dressed steer price was $190.69 which was $0.11 higher. The five-area weighted average formula price which is steers and heifers was $193.07 which was $0.45 higher.
The estimated weekly total FIS cattle harvest was reported at 629,000 head and compared to 527,000 head the same week last year which was a holiday week.
The latest average National steer carcass weight for WE May 15 was 894 lbs which was 2 lbs lower than the previous week and compared to 901 lbs the same week last year which was 5 lbs higher than the previous week last year.
Choice-Select spread on Friday was at 30.07 compared to 22.86 the previous week and that compared to 23.27 spread last year.
Boxed beef recap:
The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week on Friday May 28 at $330.97 which was $5.80 higher compared to previous Friday. Last year it was $363.34 on the same Friday which was about $33 lower, so it had continued to drop much lower last year. However, in 2015 it was about $255 the same Friday so, it is now about 75 higher than 2015 when fat cattle prices were much higher than they are now.
The end of this week the daily Choice Chuck and Round primal were 3 to 9 higher. The daily Choice Rib and Loin primal were 2 to 8 higher. The weekly total for the daily cutout was 493 loads and about 7 % of the weekly total loads sold.
The weekly average Choice cutout which includes all types of sales including the daily Choice cutout was 319.72 which was $10.10 higher.
The total sales were 7064 total loads sold for the week which was 160 loads lower than the previous week but helped by exports which were very big again.
The out-front sales which get delivered after 21 days were 1908 loads which was 68 loads lower than last week.
The exports as reported on the Box Beef report were 1752 loads which was 23 loads higher compared to the previous week. This week 114 loads were sold to our NAFTA neighbors and 1638 loads were going overseas.
Formula sales were at 3397 loads which was 184 loads lower than last week and about 48 percent of the total loads sold this week. The formula sales included about 2.3 million lbs of Choice ribeye products along with about 2.4 million lbs of Choice loin strips.
Taking a look at the major primal cuts which impact the cutout value and the weekly average numbers include all of the different types of sales. The weekly average Choice Chuck and Round primal were 8 to 16 higher. The weekly average Choice Rib and the Loin primal were 8 to 12 higher and the Rib is now higher than last year along with setting a new all-time record high with big demand from restaurants.
The daily cow cutout ended the week on Friday May 28 was $ 1.10 higher at 211.27 and the 90% trimmings were at 256.76 which was $ 0.27 higher compared to the previous Friday.
The latest report of Imported meat passed for entry into the U.S. for week ending May 22 showed 20,798 metric tons of fresh beef which was about 1400 lower than the previous week and about 3000 lower than last year. The year to date total for these imports is 8 % lower than last year. The top 4 countries are Canada which is number one and is 17 % higher than last year, Mexico is the second highest but 10 % lower than last year, New Zealand is 6 % lower, and Australia which is 45 % lower.
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