Live cattle futures posted $1.25 to $1.50 gains across the front months at the Thursday close. A few Southern sales have been reported at $239-240 this week, with Northern dressed sales at $370, down $5-8 wk/wk. The Thursday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from Central Stockyards saw no sales on the 1,250 head offered, with bids at $232-238. Feeder cattle futures closed out the Thursday session with contracts up $2.50 to $3.15. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $1.26 at $362.62 on September 17.
Weekly Export Sales data showed a total of 15,777 MT of beef sold in the week ending on 9/11, an improvement from last week. The largest buyer was South Korea at 8,000 MT, with 1,700 MT sold to Mexico. Shipments were tallied at 13,169 MT, which was a 6-week high. The top destination was Japan at 4,000 MT, with 3,200 MT shipped to South Korea.
