Packer Margins Show Relief with Capacity Shift

A Drovers article

With the shuffling and announcements, packer margins (Sterling calculation) improved marginally last week to average -$142.87/head compared to -$172.65/head the prior week. The Comprehensive Cutout Value was up nearly $7/cwt to average $371.14/cwt. for the week while 5-Area Direct Steers fell $7/cwt. to average $228.53/cwt.

Again, I use the prior week’s steer price for this week’s packer margin and that was $235.23/cwt. Feedlot margins were down sharply with last week ‘s lower steer price with Sterling’s estimated average for the week at -$130.68/head.

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