Middle Meats Rally As Grilling Season Arrives- Ed Czerwein Offers Boxed Beef Analysis

Ed Czerwien, USDA Market News Reporter based in Amarillo, writes and produces the Weekly Boxed Beef Trade Analysis.

Weekly boxed beef trade for week ending Apr 04

The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week last Fri at 255.57 which was 4.77 cents hgr. There were 601 loads sold for the week in the daily box beef cutout. It was about 10 % of the total volume.

The Comprehensive or weekly avg Ch cutout which includes all types of sales including the daily spot cutout was 251.14 which was 4.16 hgr. The normal seasonal grilling season has definitely started in most areas which has helped to improve prices especially for steak type middle meats.

There were only 5803 total loads sold which was 197 loads lwr than the previous week. The formula sales were at 3199 loads which was 62 loads lwr than last week and are about 55 percent of the total loads sold. The tremendous rise in prices has slowed sales down quite a bit.

Exports as reported on the weekly box beef report were at 575 loads which was 100 loads lwr than the previous week. 92 loads were sold to our NAFTA Neighbors and 483 loads were shipped overseas. These exports are no doubt directly influenced by the value of the dollar which has skyrocketed during the last 5 months and usually has a reverse impact on the exports. High dollar values make our products even higher to foreign users, which normally slows down the volume.

The out-front sales were at 799 loads which was 41 loads lwr than last week. These reported outfront sales were mostly brisket and round products which totaled almost 2 million lbs and there average prices were 1-5 dollars below current spot and formula prices. There was also almost half million lbs ribeyes that were priced a whopping 54 dollars below the current negotiated or spot market.