Negotiated cash fed cattle prices were steady Wednesday at $138/cwt. on a live basis in the Southern Plains (slow trade and light demand) and Nebraska (moderate trade and good demand), according to the Agricultural Marketing Service. Dressed prices were also steady in Nebraska at $221.
Trade was limited on light demand in the western Corn Belt with a few dressed sales at $221, but too few to trend. Last week, prices were $140-$142 on a live basis and $222 in the beef.
Choice Boxed beef cutout value was $1.63 higher Wednesday afternoon at $261.60/cwt. Select was $1.35 higher at $253.24.
Cattle futures mainly batted on either side of steady, pressured by rising feed costs, steady cash and lower outside markets, but supported by strengthening wholesale beef prices.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 40¢ higher (2¢ to $1.20 higher) except for unchanged to 22¢ lower in three contracts.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 25¢ higher except for unchanged in spot Apr and 7¢ lower toward the back.
Corn futures closed mostly 2¢ to 4¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed 10¢ to 227¢ higher through Nov ’22 and then mostly 5¢ to 6¢ higher.
******************************
Major U.S. financial indices closed sharply lower Wednesday, as oil and other commodity prices continued to climb.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 448 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 55 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 186 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) were $3.62 to $5.66 higher in the front six contracts.
******************************
Consumers are more comfortable shopping and dining in person, although some pandemic behaviors appear to be lasting, according to a recent RaboResearch report. Among the highlights:
Foodservice demand is demonstrating excellent resilience with increased food traffic at dine-in establishments.
Where consumers previously grabbed breakfast on-the-go, they now pop out for lunch while at home, and there are somewhat fewer evening dinners and drinks, so long as people are working from home.
Consumption of food at home has sustained strong demand above pandemic levels, bolstered by higher average spend (inflation included), the return of in-person shopping (to 2019 levels), and structurally higher online grocery orders.
Inflation is driving consumers to discount grocers, driving growth in share of traffic. On the opposite end, foot traffic at premium and natural stores remains far from the good old times.
Online groceries seem to have reached a steady cap of 2.8 orders per month per active client, still significantly above pre-pandemic levels but below the levels of the initial months of hoarding. The average order amount is 16% higher than pre-pandemic, as clients add more items to their virtual carts.