July 27

7/27 - WEEKLY COMMODITY SUMMARY:

• In Friday’s monthly cattle report, the USDA said feedlot inventories on July 1st were 11.37M head, up 2.2% from a year ago. New placements onto feedlots in June were 2.9% below last year, and cattle marketings were down 2.7%.

• Additionally, the USDA released its mid-year inventory report showing all cattle in the U.S. (in feedlots and on pasture) were up 0.2% from a year ago. Taken together, the reports were as expected and slightly bearish for cattle prices.

• The big news in cattle/beef last week was an announcement by the USDA that it will begin a phased reopening of southern points of entry to Mexican cattle, starting with Douglas, AZ, on Aug 24. The U.S. has banned the import of Mexican cattle since Nov 2024, following an outbreak of New World Screwworm disease. This left the U.S. short over a million feeders in 2025, helping lift cattle prices that were already sky-high due to a record low herd size.