Heavy and light ribeye are the same cut, the boneless lip-on ribeye roll (IMPS 112A), sold in two weights. USDA's guide to its boxed beef report puts the line at 12 lb: light is 12 and under, heavy is over 12. Both carry the same trim, fat option 3 (⅛ inch average, ¼ inch at any one point). The only thing separating the two prices is the size of the roll.
The weight is not printed on the daily report. It comes from USDA's own guide to how the report is built, so confirm it with the packer when a roll sits right on the line.
The split does not match the spec sheet
IMPS sizes the 112A in four ranges: 6-7, 7-9, 9-11 and 11-up lb. USDA's 12 lb line cuts across them. A packer quoting 9-11s is quoting light rolls in USDA's terms, and an 11-up quote straddles both lines, since an 11.5 lb roll is light on the report. Cow ribeyes split differently again, at 8 lb on USDA's cow report, and are no benchmark for either fed-beef line.
Light usually costs more
The bigger roll is not the pricier one. Over 2016 to 2025 the light Choice ribeye printed above the heavy on 64 percent of trading days, by a median of about 10 cents a pound, and it held the edge on more than half the days in every one of those 10 years.
The pattern has a calendar. Light averaged over heavy in every January, October and November of the ten years. June is the one month the heavy usually wins, in 8 of the 10. In 2026 through September the light roll has been over the heavy on about 4 days in 5, by a median near 43 cents a pound.
Heavy rolls are most of what trades: 62 percent of the Choice boneless ribeye pounds USDA reported over those ten years, and 77 percent in 2026 so far. The light roll is the scarcer piece.
Why the smaller roll earns more
The prints do not say why. The trade's usual answer is portion fit. A steak is sold by weight and by thickness at the same time, and the size of the roll decides how the two meet: cut to a set weight, a small eye gives a thicker steak and a big eye a thinner one. Programs built around a set portion find more of their steaks in the lighter rolls.
Select runs the other way
Do not carry the Choice pattern over to Select. Over the same ten years the heavy Select ribeye printed above the light on about two days in three, by a median near 10 cents a pound.