Fed cattle prices up
Fed cattle prices opened the first week of 1997 on an up note, following the previous week’s trend.
Considering the New Year’s holiday in the middle of the week, volume was adequate with the total on offer at 14,000 head. There was good demand from American and Eastern Canadian buyers.
Trade on Jan. 2 saw steers at $78.75-$81.75 and heifers at $79-$81.50 per hundredweight.
Beef was little changed from before Christmas. Montreal wholesale was $161 and Calgary wholesale was $127-$137 per hundredweight.
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Prairies have variable soil moisture conditions
The dry weather in the west was welcome for preserving grain quality and advancing harvest, but it has resulted in very dry soil moisture conditions.
Canfax believes that as the number of fed cattle going to market picks up this week, prices will be under pressure, particularly if there isn’t good interest from U.S. buyers and if the U.S. cash market doesn’t improve.
Feeder cattle saw no trade in the last week because markets were closed for the holidays. Marketings in the first full week of the year are expected to be light and Canfax predicts prices will hold steady to what they were before Christmas.
Smaller hog inventory
The December USDA hog inventory report said there are four percent fewer market hogs on farms and it appears marketings in the first half of 1997 will be below 1996 levels. However, the number of U.S. sows expected to farrow between December 1996 and February 1997 is up one percent from the previous year. With larger litter sizes, that could mean more hogs going to market in the second half of the year.
The news pushed up February futures for lean carcasses on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, but contracts in the second half of the year were down.
