Cattle futures were mixed on Wednesday.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of 65¢ lower, pressured in part by weakening post-holiday wholesale beef values.
Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.14 higher, except for an average of 72¢ lower in three contracts with support from the cash market.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was mostly inactive on light demand in Kansas and in the North through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, FOB live prices were $255/cwt. in Kansas, $255-$256 in Nebraska and mostly $255 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were mostly $403. The previous week, FOB live prices in the Texas Panhandle were $258.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $4.57 lower Wednesday afternoon at $381.20/cwt. Select was $2.80 lower at $363.09.
Grain and Soybean futures were lower Wednesday with profit taking from the recent surge higher.
Toward the close and through near Mar contracts Corn futures were 7¢ to 10¢ lower. Soybean futures were mostly 4¢ to 9¢ lower. Kansas City HRW Wheat futures were mostly 9¢ to 10¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed mixed Wednesday, with resurgent Crude Oil prices and elevated tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 576 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 21 points lower. The NASDAQ was up 51 points.
Through mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) were $2.70 to $4.14 higher through the front six contracts.
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U.S. beef exports show signs of strengthening, based on data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF).
May beef exports totaled 91,925 metric tons (mt), down 5% from a year ago. However, value increased 2% to $818.1 million, bolstered by value increases in Taiwan, Japan, the ASEAN region, Central and South America and Egypt.
Export value per head of fed slaughter soared to $468 in May, the highest in nearly four years. Despite China’s mid-May renewal of expired U.S. beef plant registrations, May exports to China remained minimal as technical obstacles are yet to be resolved.
For January through May, beef exports were 10% below last year’s pace at 457,063 mt, while value fell 5% to $3.95 billion. When excluding China from these results, January-May beef exports were down less than 1% in volume and were 6% higher in value.
“Despite significant headwinds, we are seeing some encouraging trends on the beef side,” says Dan Halstrom, USMEF president and CEO. “Many facilities remain suspended and unable to export to China, while exporters overall remain reluctant to ship until technical obstacles are resolved and China agrees to meet its Phase One Agreement commitments. But Taiwan has been a major bright spot this year, and while exports to South Korea have trended lower, we expect an uptick in Korea’s demand when a higher tariff rate on Australian beef is triggered later this month.”
By mid-July, Korea’s imports of Australian beef are expected to exceed the safeguard threshold established in the Korea-Australia FTA. Through the end of the year, Korea’s tariff rate on Australian beef will increase from 5.3% to 24%. U.S. beef enters Korea at zero duty under the Korea-U.S. FTA. Australia triggered its beef safeguard for China on June 18 and has since faced a 55% tariff for exports entering that market.
Turning to pork, May exports were higher year-over-year, but volumes were significantly diminished by Mexico’s restrictions on pork offal items.
Pork exports totaled 245,874 metric tons (mt) in May, up 10% from a year ago, with value up 8% to $701 million. But exports in May 2025 were unusually low due to heightened trade tensions with China, which temporarily pushed China’s tariff rate on U.S. pork as high as 172%.