Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures rose for a fifth consecutive session on Tuesday and the front-month contract reached its highest in 4-1/2-years on a firm cash market and good beef demand.
Cattle prices have been trending higher amid rising imports by China and improved domestic demand as more consumers are returning to restaurants and resuming travel after nearly two years of COVID-19 limits on large gatherings.
Cash cattle bids at southern U.S. Plains feedlot markets rose to $136/cwt on Tuesday, with only light sales reported at that price, which was up $2 from a week ago (all figures US$). Most sellers passed on the bids and awaited even higher prices.
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“Packers are still reaching out, buying aggressively. We still have a few more days of a seasonal move up before we start seeing buyers procure for the early-January low-demand period,” said Rich Nelson, chief strategist with Allendale Inc.
CME’s most-active February live cattle contract gained 0.45 cent to end at 139.425 cents/lb. Spot December climbed to the highest point for a front-month contract since April 2017 and closed 0.975 cent higher at 135.4 cents/lb.
CME January feeder cattle futures rose 2.675 cents, to 164.375 cents/lb.
CME lean hog futures ended mixed as the market weighed strong pork demand against expected larger stocks as the hog slaughter is expected to rise to a seasonal high in the coming weeks.
CME December lean hogs settled 0.5 cent lower at 74.15 cents/lb., while February hogs added 0.25 cent to close at 83.275 cents.
— Karl Plume reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.
