Cattle futures are sharply higher early Monday as Brad Kooima with Kooima Kooima Varilek says Northern cash trade topped at $193 live late Friday.
“We had some $193 paid by a major and those cattle will be picked up already this week.” he says.
Cash in the North ranged from $190-$193 live and $298 to $301 dressed, but mostly $301. In the South most of the business was done at $185, down $1.
Showlists are extremely tight in the North and so he is optimistic cash cattle trade will be higher in the North this week and may even be stronger in the South.
The June live cattle contract is lagging behind the deferred months because that contract is in the first day of the delivery period, although he doesn’t expect any deliveries with the futures at such a large discount to cash.
Boxed beef cutout values on the Choice category were higher coming into the trading day at just under $317.
Kooima says the one negative is the average weights continue to be persistently higher than last year due to the mild weather conditions.
Funds also decreased their long position by around 5,000 contracts.
Hogs start mixed and quickly fade in all but the June contract on export concerns.
Kooima says the results of the Mexican presidential election have had an impact on the peso and caused fear that this top pork export customer may back away from the U.S. market.
Corn and beans try to bounce early as they are oversold technically, and corn held some important chart support on Friday.
Corn has actually held up well despite the sharply lower wheat market and posted a slightly higher weekly close. Plus, cash basis levels have been improving which is an indication of strong demand.
