Agricultural News
Beef Prices Fall, Volume Increases, Ed Czerwien Reports
Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:26:37 CDT
Ed Czerwien, USDA Market News, Amarillo, Texas, files this report for boxed beef trade ending June 7, 2013:
The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week at $199.53, which was $2.04 lower. The volume was 915 loads for the weekly total of the daily spot load count. That's two weeks in a row over 900 loads after the previous five weeks stuck in the 700-load 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 $201.96, which was $2.31 lower than last week.
The total reported Box Beef volume was 8,195 loads which was 1,280 loads more than last week and the largest volume since June 22, 2012. The formula trade was 3,960 loads for the week which was 618 loads better than last week and about 48 percent of the total sales.
The out-front sales were 1,625 loads which were 693 loads more than last week. Exports reported 1,388 loads which was 511 loads more than the previous week. The NAFTA exports represented 219 of those loads and a whopping 1,169 loads were shipped overseas. Volume was great in every respect but just a note of caution since volume always peaks during one of these middle weeks of June. Last year we had over 8,500 loads and in 2011 we enjoyed over 9,500 loads.
The most recent 10-week rolling Box Beef sales average was 7,148 loads per week which compares to 7,225 loads per week last year at this same time and was only 77 loads less than last year average and the closest that we have been in a long time.
The Primal cut trade portion of the spot trade showed some firmness on forequarter products. The outside primal cuts (Rounds and Chucks) prices were mixed with Rounds steady and chucks 1-2 higher. The inside primal cuts the Loin and Rib were also mixed 1-3 higher on Ribs but over 8 lower on Choice Loins.
The cow cutout was about the same as last week after showing some strength during the week due to increases in the 90-percent trimmings. Cow harvest rates have been in 135-139,000 head range for the week during much of the past two months, which is higher than was anticipated.
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