Fat cattle futures ended the Thursday session with losses of at least 30 cents. April cattle closed at $118.55 after an 85 cent pullback. Thursday cash trade was quiet with some limited WCB and KS trades at $112-114. The bulk of the week’s cash sales have been $114 on Wednesday. Feeder cattle futures closed with triple digit losses of $1.07 to $2.32. The 3/2 Feeder Cattle Index from CME was $137.17, down another 37 cents.

USDA reported 22,615 MT of beef sold on the week ending 2/25 in the weekly Export Sales report. Sales to China were 19.8% of the total. China’s beef commitments account for 13.5% of the total on the books.

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the PM report, widening the Chc/Sel spread back to $12.20. Choice was $0.85 stronger to $233.88 cwt. and Select was $2.56 lower. WTD federally inspected slaughter is 485,000 head, compared to 493,000 head last year.

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