Feeder Cattle Down $9.25 This Morning

Ahead of 9:30 a.m. CT, December live cattle were down $6 at $235.18 per hundredweight (cwt). January feeder cattle were down $9.25 at $348.18 per cwt. December lean hogs were unchanged at $81.78 per cwt.

Naomi Blohm, senior market advisor with Total Farm Marketing, said this morning the cattle market is still “balancing government intervention.”

Yesterday, Reuters reported: “U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is quadrupling the country’s low-tariff imports of Argentine beef in his attempt to lower grocery store beef prices, a White House official said on Thursday, evoking fury from the nation’s cattle ranchers.

“Raising the tariff rate quota on Argentine beef to 80,000 metric tons will let the country ship more of its beef to the U.S. at a lower rate of duty. U.S. beef prices have set records due to tight cattle supplies and strong consumer demand.”

This was one day after USDA announced details of a plan to “fortify the American beef industry” and lower consumer prices.

Ahead of 9:30 a.m. CT, December corn was down 3¾¢ at $4.24¼ per bushel.

January soybeans were down less than a penny at $10.61¼ per bushel.

December CBOT wheat was down 1½¢ at $5.11½ per bushel. December KC wheat was up less than a penny at $5.00¾ per bushel. December Minneapolis wheat was down 2¼¢ at $5.55¾.

December crude oil was up 39¢ at $62.18 per barrel.

The U.S. Dollar Index December contract was down to 98.72.

The S&P 500 Index was up 54.15 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 398.36 points. 

Published: 10:12 a.m. CT