
Live cattle futures posted gains of 90 cents to $1.60 on Thursday. Cash trade has yet to get fully kicked off this week, as last week was $232-233 across the country. The Thursday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales or bids on the 974 head offered. Feeder cattle futures were back up $3.67 to $4.85 to close out Thursday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up 27 cents to $369.42 on January 13.
Export Sales data showed beef bookings at 11,192 MT in the week of 1/8. South Korea was the largest buyer of 3,800 MT, with 2,000 MT sold to Japan. Shipments were tallied at 11,657 MT for that week. Japan led the way in destinations with 3,400 MT, with 3,100 MT to South Korea.