Other than a few dressed trades reported by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) in the western Corn Belt on Tuesday at $166/cwt. and too few to trend, negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped.
Cattle futures closed mostly higher with more active trade.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of $1.09 higher through the front five contracts (10¢ higher in Feb to $2.20 higher in spot Jun), and then an average of 12¢ lower.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average 73¢ higher (32¢ higher toward the back to $1.17 higher in spot Aug).
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $7.58 lower Tuesday afternoon at $247.00/cwt. Select was $3.17 lower at $227.95.
As of Tuesday morning, beef packing facilities were operating at 98% of their average capacity, compared to the same time last year, according to USDA. Pork facilities were at 95%, and poultry facilities were operating at 98%.
Corn futures closed 3¢ to 6¢ lower through May ’21 and then mostly 1¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed mostly 1¢ to 4¢ lower through Jly ‘21 and then mainly 7¢ to 8¢ lower.
*******************************
Major U.S. financial indices gave back some of the recent gains on Tuesday, on likely profit taking.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 300 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 25 points lower. The NASDAQ closed 29 points higher.
*******************************
Major restaurant chain customer transactions continue to improve as a growing number of restaurant dine-in services reopen, according to the NPD Group (NPD).
For the week ending May 31, U.S. restaurant chain transactions declined by 18% compared to same period a year ago, which represented a 3% week-over-week improvement, according to NPD’s CREST®Performance Alerts.
That same week, transactions at major full service restaurant chains, which were hardest hit by the dine-in closures, were 37% less than a year ago, a 15% increase from the prior week. Quick service restaurant chain transactions, which represent the bulk of industry transactions, declined by 16% compared to a year ago, versus an 18% decline for the week ending May 24.
More than 68% of all restaurant units are in states, counties, or municipalities where they are permitted to reopen their on-premise dining service, according to NPD’s ReCount®restaurant census. Although that doesn’t mean all restaurants in those areas reopened, it is an indicator of loosening regulations.
“The U.S. foodservice industry today remains solidly in the re-start phase as restaurants begin to reopen their on-premise operations,” says David Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor. “The industry will move to the recovery phase when all states reopen on-premise dining and we can begin to make a detailed assessment of how many permanent restaurant closures there are and how that will affect what the industry will look like as it re-emerges.”