DTN Midday Livestock Comments 12/15 11:36

DTN Midday Livestock Comments 12/15 11:36 Feedlots Keep Cattle Trading Steady to $1.00 Higher Thin fed cattle supplies are helping feedlots keep packers buying in the market as early tests prove prices to be holding to steady to $1.00 higher. ShayLe Stewart DTN Livestock Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: It's a dreary day throughout the livestock complex as all markets are trading lower into Thursday's afternoon. Thursday's export data wasn't anything overly exciting for neither the beef or pork markets, and the cash cattle market has yet to really trade any sizeable volume of cattle. March corn is up 1 cent per bushel and January soybean meal is down $3.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 812.92 points. LIVE CATTLE: The live cattle market gapped lower at Thursday's start as drumming up fundamental support up until Thursday was rather difficult. But with Southern live cattle traded at $155, and Northern cattle testing the marekt at $248, we're seeing packers operating with extremely thin margins, and the scarcity of fed cattle supplies is boding well for feedlots and continues to allow them to remain in control of the majority of the market's leverage. Boxed beef prices have been volatile this week and will likely continue to be that way through Christmas, but Thursday's midday higher price is helping feedlots get cattle traded for steady to $1.00 higher. More cash cattle trade is expected to develop ahead of the day's end as only a small sampling has traded. December live cattle are down $0.30 at $154.20, February live cattle are down $0.77 at $154.92 and April live cattle are down $0.55 at $159.02. Beef net sales of 10,900 mt for 2022 were primarily for South Korea (4,100 mt), Japan (3,700 mt) and Mexico (1,600 mt). Boxed beef prices are higher: choice up $3.03 ($253.10) and select up $0.95 ($227.64) with a movement of 57 loads (29.94 loads of choice, 9.66 loads of select, 10.43 loads of trim and 6.73 loads of ground beef). FEEDER CATTLE: With the live cattle complex unable to lend the feeder cattle market any support, it comes as no surprise that feeder cattle prices are trailing lower into Thursday's afternoon while corn prices trend $0.01 to $0.02 higher. January feeders are down $0.20 at $183.40, March feeders are down $0.55 at $184.90 and April feeders are down $0.45 at $188.47. Until after the first of the year, very few feeder cattle sales will take place throughout the countryside, which will likely leave the market trading in a very unenthusiastic manner. LEAN HOGS: With how aggressively bellies fell in Wednesday's afternoon pork cutout, the lean hog market is scraping by through Thursday's trade, not seeming willing or able to do much of anything as support can't be found anywhere in the market's fundamentals. Yes, midday pork cutout values are higher Thursday, but who knows what the close will end up being, and given the volatile nature of prices lately, a higher price at midday doesn't mean much. February lean hogs are down $0.87 at $82.52, April lean hogs are down $0.50 at $90.22 and June lean hogs are down $0.12 at $104.92. Packers continue to let the cash hog market pass them by, showing it little interest as they look ahead to next and the weeks until the New Year and question what demand will be. Pork net sales of 14,400 mt for 2022 were primarily for Mexico (9,600 mt), China (2,500 mt) and Japan (1,600 mt). The projected lean hog index for Dec. 14 is up $0.20 at $81.88 and the actual index for Dec. 13 is up $0.06 at $81.68. Hog prices are lower on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report down $0.57 with a weighted average of $80.58, ranging from $75.00 to $81.25, on 3,830 head and a five-day rolling average of $81.63. Pork cutouts total 153.40 loads with 134.15 loads of pork cuts and 19.24 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $4.07, $88.34. ShayLe Stewart can be reached [email protected] ** Cattlemen are eager for supply and demand mechanics to swing their way, but the market isn't completely free of hurdles as bearish concerns about the U.S. and global economies loom. Hear DTN Livestock Analyst ShayLe Stewart's thoughts on the 2023 cattle market at the all-virtual DTN Ag Summit on Dec. 12-13. Full details available at http://www.dtn.com/agsummit (c) Copyright 2022 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.