October live cattle (LEV26) futures on Friday fell $1.20 to $211.725 and for the week were down $6.20. November feeder cattle (GFX26) futures lost $1.55 to $309.925 and on the week lost $6.325. The cattle futures markets have seen steady technical selling over the past four weeks as both markets remain trapped in price downtrends on the daily bar charts.
Cattle traders this week will digest the implications of President Donald Trump’s administration trying to bring down the price of beef at the meat counter. Trump Friday said on social media that his administration will seek changes to allow farmers and ranchers to slaughter and process their own products in response to calls to loosen the grip of the big companies that dominate U.S. meat processing. “I am authorizing legal documents to be drawn in order to allow Farmers and Ranchers to be given the right to PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “This should move quickly.” The southern U.S. border reopening and Trump’s move to allow tariff-free beef imports aimed at lowering beef prices have weighed on cattle markets recently, pushing live and feeder futures near nine-month lows.
