Cattle Collapse to Start the Month, with Weaker Cash and Boxed Beef

Alan Brugler Barchart Thu Aug 1, 4:14PM CDT
Family outside of cow pen cattle pasture

Live cattle futures fell $2.20 to $3.47 on Thursday. Some light trade volume was reported on Thursday with $188 sales in south. This morning’s Central Stockyards Fed Cattle Exchange saw sales on one lot of TX cattle for $191 using their BidTheGrid™ method, with live bids of 187 in TX. Feeder cattle futures were down $4.10 to $5.70 at the close.  The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down 87 cents at $257.82 on July 31. 

Export Sales data showed beef totaling 17,710 MT in sales for 2024, a 10-week high. Actual export shipments were tallied at 16,209 MT, slightly below last week.

USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Thursday PM report. Choice boxes were down $1.98 at $312.79, with Select products $2.70 lower @ $297.46. The Chc/Sel spread widened to $15.33.  USDA estimated Thursday’s FI slaughter at 114,000 head, taking the weekly total to 474,000 head. That is down 6,000 head from last week and 19,007 head below the same week a year ago. 

Aug 24 Live Cattle  closed at $184.800, down $2.325,

Oct 24 Live Cattle  closed at $183.725, down $2.950,

Dec 24 Live Cattle  closed at $184.600, down $3.275,

Aug 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $253.150, down $4.100,

Sep 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $251.800, down $5.300,

Oct 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $250.875, down $5.275,


On the date of publication, Alan Brugler 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.