Cattle futures started to rebound Wednesday after undergoing a dramatic drop since President Trump’s infamous Truth Social post in mid-October. Despite the big changes in the market, Terrain Senior Animal Protein Analyst Don Close says the fundamentals in the cattle market haven’t changed. “I would go futher than that and say the psychological damage that has been done to the market in the past ten-12 days has destroyed producer confidence and setback our efforts to rebuild female inventory,” said Close. The pain has been felt at the auction barns. Feeder calf prices at Phillip Livestock declined $40-to-$55 in the past week. At Hub City Livestock Auction in Aberdeen, steer calf prices were down as much as $30. “In other situations that we’ve been through over the years, I don’t know that I recall that big a decline in a single week’s reported trade. Typically, when we see that kind of correction in the market, it takes weeks or months to see that amount of price decline. To see it just cut all in one fell swoop, that’s a rare occurrence.” Close emphasized the supply of beef will on tighten from this point forward, and beef demand remains strong. In an interview with RRFN, Close also considers the true impact of Argentine beef imports and the potential impact of lower tariffs from Brazil. Click here to listen.
