Cattle Futures Whipsaw After Tyson Plant Cuts as Wheat Ships Strong and Soybeans Lag

Overview

• Live and feeder cattle hit Monday’s exchange limits, triggering wider bands for Tuesday trading ($10.25 for live, $13.25 for feeders).
• Tyson plans to close its 5,000 head-per-day Lexington, Nebraska plant and shift Amarillo to a single full-capacity shift by January 20, coinciding with softer cash trade near $208 in the Western Corn Belt.
• USDA’s Cattle on Feed report showed October placements down 10.02% year over year and the November 1 on-feed inventory down 2.17%, underscoring tighter U.S. cattle supplies.
• Tuesday trading showed feeders recovering $1.67 to $2.75 with live cattle mixed, light dressed sales reported around $330 and boxed beef prices narrowly mixed in morning data.
• Grain flows diverged as wheat export inspections reached 474,530 MT for the week ending Nov. 20, soybean inspections fell to a 2006‑low 799,042 MT despite a 123,000 MT U.S. sale to China and talk from Ag Secretary Rollins of a potential U.S.–China soybean deal, and corn shipments totaled 1.63 MMT for the week with marketing‑year exports up 72% year over year.