Live cattle futures were down 97 cents to $1.20 in the front months on Friday, as October was $3.67 lower this week. Cash activity saw sales of $242-243 reported this week, steady to $1 higher in the South and $2-3 weaker in the North. This morning’s Fed Catte Exchange online auction showed sales of $242 on 40 of the 242 head offered using the BidTheGrid™ method. Feeder cattle futures closed out Friday with contracts down $1 to $2, as September was steady. The nearby September contract fell $4.95 this 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.
