On a regular basis, Ed Czerwein of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Market News Office in Amarillo, Texas offers a review of the previous week's boxed beef trade. Here is his report of weekly boxed beef trade for the week ending April 2nd.
The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week last Friday at $219.11 which was $5.25 lower compared to the previous Friday but about 15 dollars lower in the last 12 working days. There were 728 loads sold for the week in the daily box beef cutout. Last year at this time we were around $255 then climbed to $265 right before Memorial day but had a couple of minor setbacks during the spring rally.
The Comprehensive or weekly average Choice cutout which includes all types of sales including the daily spot cutout was $220.16 which was only $4.33 lower. There were 6316 total loads sold which was only 14 loads lower than the previous week. The formula sales were at 3144 loads which was 35 loads higher than last week and it was about 50 percent of the total loads sold this week.
Exports as reported on the Boxed Beef report represent primarily muscle cuts and were 738 loads which was 272 lds lower. 155 loads were sold to our NAFTA Neighbors and 583 loads were shipped overseas.
The out-front sales which won’t be delivered for at least 22 days and were 1139 loads which was 202 loads lower than last week. The largest outfront sales were brisket again this week with 2.4 million pounds that were $15-$27 below formula average prices.
Taking a look at the weekly avg primal cut prices, we find the Choice chuck and the round primal were $4-$5 lower. The Choice middle meats were mixed- the rib was $19 lower this week and the loin was $4 higher. Ribs normally do not collapse this time of the year but usually enjoy a seasonal rally. Fifty percent trimmings,which are the single largest cut from the cutout, jumped $56 the first two weeks in March but lost $29 the past two weeks.
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