– Josh Maples, Assistant Professor & Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University
News broke over the holiday weekend that JBS had suffered a cyber attack that caused disruptions at some plants globally. According to a statement by JBS, the attack affected “. . . some of the servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems.”
It is unclear the full extent of the attack or the impact it might have on slaughter in the United States. Daily slaughter estimates have not been released at the time of this writing. The figure above does not include any data since the attack. Cattle futures markets have been volatile in trading today as market participants react to emerging information.
The June contract opened about $3 below Friday’s closing price. Contract months further in the future opened around $2 lower than last week. The range of trading for the June live cattle contract was a low of $111.48 to a high of $114.85. The June contract was $2.50 lower at the end of the trading day and the August was down $2.25. The August feeder cattle futures contract was down $2.73 and other months were down less. Overall, cattle futures prices were lower but this was not a limit-down day.
Looking ahead, the duration of the impact on cattle markets will directly depend on how long the attack impacts cattle processing operations and the severity of the disruptions in terms of reduced slaughter. Beef markets would also be impacted by any disruptions. All impacts are speculative at this point.
For cattle producers, more information is needed to understand the impact this might have on prices and decision making. Many producers and analysts will be watching the release of the USDA daily slaughter cattle reports to better understand the potential impact of the attack on slaughter totals.