In this weekly Commodities Watch column, John T. Barone, president and commodities analyst for Market Vision Inc., offers a snapshot of the state of commodities for restaurants.
Friday’s USDA cattle report showed feedlot inventories at 11.19 million head, a decrease of 5.6 percent compared to a year ago. December's new feedlot placements, at 1.66 million head, were 0.5 percent below last year and 0.2 percent below the five-year average. Feedlot numbers are likely to continue falling as smaller feeder-cattle supplies foreshow declining placements through spring.
December inspected slaughter was 8 percent below a year ago, and sharp declines in year-over-year slaughter numbers are expected into 2014. Heifers and heifer calves accounted for 4.07 million head of feedlot inventory, down 9 percent from last year. So while producers may not be expanding yet, at least they are not liquidating breeding stock at the pace they were a year ago.
Cattle futures, which plummeted 6.6 percent over the past two weeks on news of a Cargill plant closure, should recover this week following this moderately bullish report.
Contact John T. Barone at [email protected].
