Cattle traded in a back-and-forth fashion this week with live cattle managing to outpace the feeder cattle market performance. Live cattle have been slightly undervalued when compared to feeder cattle so this week’s small catch up for live cattle was encouraging.
Cattle started the week with live cattle posting solid gains while feeder cattle only saw small gains. After opening higher, cattle extended session gains throughout the early part of the session. By midsession cattle started to lose their gains as most months slipped to trade in the red for the noon hour. Buying returned to push cattle back into the black going into the close. Early support was due to last week’s strong cash trade, which ended the week between $240 and $244. Continued talk on increased imports from Argentina weighed on the cattle early. The increase to 100,000 MT imports is a drop in the bucket, but it doesn’t sound good to the average speculator. As a reference, 2025’s average monthly beef imports from all origins were just less than 152 TMT.
Tuesday’s session had cattle trading on the defense with live cattle ending with small losses while feeder cattle saw heavy selling pressure. Technical buying helped give cattle strength early in the session as traders try to make a run to close the gap from mid Oct. But cattle faded their gains once the Feb Crop Production report was released. The report was friendly to the grains but a bit negative cattle. USDA increased 2025 beef production 1 million pounds, putting it at 26.067 billion pounds. For new crop 2026, production increased 185 million pounds to 25.987 billion pounds. Per capita consumption for 2025 increased .2 pounds per person to 59.2 pounds while 2026 consumption increased .6 pounds to 59.5 pounds.
Buying returned to the cattle market midweek as both the live cattle and feeder cattle market closed sharply higher. Strong cash bids and expectations for strong cash trade this week added support. A soft tone to corn added support to feeder cattle. Tight supplies and strong demand continues to put underlying support under cattle. Technical buying was also evident as traders are trying hard to close the gap in the daily charts.
Selling returned to cattle on Thursday. Cattle opened the session steady to lower and proceeded to trade on both sides of the fence. Selling picked up steam late in the session pulling feeder cattle lower while live cattle continued to trade on both sides. Live cattle are a bit undervalued when compared to feeder cattle and that helped limit losses in the live cattle. Rumors that the workers at the JBS plant in CO are ready to strike added pressure. If realized this would be the first meat packing plant strike in decades. Cargill is closing a beef processing plant in WI due to capacity consolidation. A higher grain complex added pressure to the feeder cattle market. Last week’s beef export sales pace was estimated at 15,660 MT, which is a three-week low.
For the week, February live cattle closed at $243.075 up $5.325. March feeder cattle closed at $366.15 down $1.275.
Cattle Weekly Comments February 13
Cattle Weekly Comments February 13
Cattle traded in a back-and-forth fashion this week with live cattle managing to outpace the feeder cattle market performance. Live cattle have been slightly undervalued when compared to feeder cattle so this week’s small catch up for live cattle was encouraging.
Cattle started the week with live cattle posting solid gains while feeder cattle only saw small gains. After opening higher, cattle extended session gains throughout the early part of the session. By midsession cattle started to lose their gains as most months slipped to trade in the red for the noon hour. Buying returned to push cattle back into the black going into the close. Early support was due to last week’s strong cash trade, which ended the week between $240 and $244. Continued talk on increased imports from Argentina weighed on the cattle early. The increase to 100,000 MT imports is a drop in the bucket, but it doesn’t sound good to the average speculator. As a reference, 2025’s average monthly beef imports from all origins were just less than 152 TMT.
Tuesday’s session had cattle trading on the defense with live cattle ending with small losses while feeder cattle saw heavy selling pressure. Technical buying helped give cattle strength early in the session as traders try to make a run to close the gap from mid Oct. But cattle faded their gains once the Feb Crop Production report was released. The report was friendly to the grains but a bit negative cattle. USDA increased 2025 beef production 1 million pounds, putting it at 26.067 billion pounds. For new crop 2026, production increased 185 million pounds to 25.987 billion pounds. Per capita consumption for 2025 increased .2 pounds per person to 59.2 pounds while 2026 consumption increased .6 pounds to 59.5 pounds.
Buying returned to the cattle market midweek as both the live cattle and feeder cattle market closed sharply higher. Strong cash bids and expectations for strong cash trade this week added support. A soft tone to corn added support to feeder cattle. Tight supplies and strong demand continues to put underlying support under cattle. Technical buying was also evident as traders are trying hard to close the gap in the daily charts.
Selling returned to cattle on Thursday. Cattle opened the session steady to lower and proceeded to trade on both sides of the fence. Selling picked up steam late in the session pulling feeder cattle lower while live cattle continued to trade on both sides. Live cattle are a bit undervalued when compared to feeder cattle and that helped limit losses in the live cattle. Rumors that the workers at the JBS plant in CO are ready to strike added pressure. If realized this would be the first meat packing plant strike in decades. Cargill is closing a beef processing plant in WI due to capacity consolidation. A higher grain complex added pressure to the feeder cattle market. Last week’s beef export sales pace was estimated at 15,660 MT, which is a three-week low.
For the week, February live cattle closed at $243.075 up $5.325. March feeder cattle closed at $366.15 down $1.275.