March 23

3/23 - In Friday’s Cattle on Feed report, the USDA said new placements onto feedlots in Feb were down 7.9% from a year ago, and that the March 1st feedlot inventory fell to 11.81M head, just 0.2% above last year. The drop in placements is likely the result of uncertainty surrounding COVID-19. Live cattle futures plummeted by 27.9%, from highs of $127.43/cwt in mid-Jan, to lows of $91.85 a week ago. But retail panic buying has help cattle futures recover a bit to close at $98.65/cwt on Friday – and has pushed beef 90s trimmings from $2.22 to $2.35/lb over the past 2 weeks. Looking forward, cattle herd numbers continue to tighten, and China is coming back online. That means renewed competition for Australian beef. But those factors are being more than offset by the plunge in chain restaurant sales numbers. Look for flat to lower beef trimming prices through Spring.