Live and fed cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were steady to lower on Friday, as the slaughter was behind pace.
The federally inspected cattle slaughter was about 118,000 head, raising the week’s running total by Thursday to 476,000 head. That’s 8,000 head behind last week’s slaughter and down nearly 20,700 head from a year ago.
The April live cattle contract was unchanged at 196.775 cents per pound.
March feeder cattle futures slipped 0.400 of a cent at 264.900 cents per pound.
The USDA reported wholesale boxed beef prices pulled back on Friday afternoon, with choice boxes down $2.11 at $321.87 per hundredweight while select boxes lost $1.87 at $312.90.
Lean hog prices increased on Friday as the slaughter held strong. The April contract nudged up 0.400 of a cent at 92.150 cents per pound.
The federally inspected hog slaughter on Thursday was approximately 481,000, which brought the running tally for the week to nearly 1.95 million head. That’s up 12,000 from the previous week and more than 14,200 from a year ago.
