Live cattle saw Friday gains of $1.50 to $2.50, with February up $1.90 last week. Open interest was down 3,090 contracts. The Friday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed $242-243 sales on 761 of the 1,602 head offered. Cash trade picked up to $240-241 in the north and $242-245 in the south. Feeder cattle futures were up 90 cents to $3.35 in the front months on Friday, with March up $7.15 last week. OI slipped 1,320 contracts on Friday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 69 cents to $374.47 on February 5.
On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order to raise the TRQ on beef imports from Argentina by 80,000 MT, a move signaled last fall. For reference average monthly imports of beef from all destinations in 2025 was 151,666 MT.
