Live cattle futures were 97 cents to $1.20 lower across the front months on Friday, as October was $3.67 in the red last week. Cash activity saw sales of $242-243 last week, steady to $1 higher in the South and $2-3 weaker in the North. Feeder cattle futures closed out on Friday with contracts down $1 to $2, as September was steady. The nearby September contract fell $4.95 last week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $2.61 at $363.96 on September 4.
Weekly Export Sales data showed a total of 16,573 MT of beef sold in the week of August 28, a 6-week high. The top buyer of US beef during that week was Japan at 5,000 MT, with 4,600 MT sold to South Korea, and 2,400 MT to Taiwan. Shipments were at 11,486 MT, up slightly from last week. Of that total, 3,500 MT was headed to Japan, with 2,800 MT headed to South Korea.
