Live cattle futures reverted lower on Thursday, as contracts were down $2.95 to $4.55 across the board. Cash trade picked up on Thursday, with most trade at $235 live and $370 dressed (North) across the country. The Thursday Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 734 head offered, with bids at $233-234 live. Feeder cattle futures faced losses of $5.12 to $7.57 across the board on Thursday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $4.28 on August 5 to $352.93.
Export Sales data from USDA showed beef sales for 2026 at 19,845 MT for the week ending on 7/30. That was a 6-week high. South Korea was the buyer of 9,300 MT, with 6,600 MT sold to Japan. Shipments were tallied at 12,461 MT, which back up from last week. The top destination was South Korea at 3,800 MT, with 2,800 MT headed to Japan.