Agricultural News
Choice Boxed Beef Sets Another New All-Time Record
Mon, 20 May 2013 17:23:15 CDT
Ed Czerwien, USDA Market News, Amarillo, Texas, files this report for boxed beef trade ending May 20, 2013:
The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week setting a new all-time record again on Friday at $209.51 which was a $4.53 higher but on very light trade once again with only 727 loads as reported in the daily cutout. That makes three weeks in a row with weekly spot load counts in the 700 range.
The Comprehensive Choice cutout, which is the weekly average of all types of sales (including the spot trade, formula trade, export sales and out-front sales) was at $204.17, which was $3.42 higher than last week.
The total reported boxed beef volume was 7,306 loads which was 712 loads more than last week. Four weeks out of the last five have been over 7,200 loads which has put us much closer to last year's numbers. Obviously this was pent up demand and good follow through buying. The formula trade was 3,496 loads for the week which was 288 loads more than last week and about 48% of the total sales.
The out-front sales were 1,624 loads which were 591 loads higher which means buyers are booking product now for June. Apparently they are not going to wait and get caught short but want product booked for June which is traditionally the best grilling month. Exports reported 955 loads which was 181 loads more than the previous week. The NAFTA exports represented 357 of those loads and 598 loads were shipped overseas.
The most recent ten-week rolling boxed sales average was 6,954 loads per week which compares to 7,229 loads per week last year at this same time and was only 275 loads less than last year average. This is an extremely important number since not only is it the closest that we have been to last year but we also cut our harvest rates and don't need as many loads as last year.
The Primal cut trade portion of the spot trade was much better again on the middle meats. The outside primal cuts (Rounds and Chucks) were 1 lower to 2 higher. The middle meats (Ribs and Loins) were 4-8 higher once again carrying the cutout to new record highs and widening the CH-SE spread.
The cow cutout remains steady to firm and ended about 50 cents higher for the week. Cow harvest rates continue to be higher due to increased numbers of Canadian cows, intense dairy culling, and big runs of cows in some drought areas.
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