Live cattle futures posted gains of 77 cent to $1.27 at the Thursday close. Cash trade saw some light trade at $246 in the South, steady to up $1 from last week. The Thursday morning Central Stockyards Fed Cattle Exchange online auction saw $244-244.50 bids, though no sales on the 970 head offered. Feeder cattle futures found strength into Thursday’s close, with gains of $1.85 to $2.60 across the board. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 45 cents to $364.10 on April 8.
USDA’s Export Sales report showed 17,408 MT of beef sold in the week of 4/2, the third largest so far in the calendar year. South Korea and Japan were the largest buyers of 6,100 MT each. Shipments were the lowest in 4 week at 13,321 MT. The largest destination was South Korea at 4,600 MT, with 3,800 MT to Japan.
