Cattle contracts and nearby hog futures ended the week on a high note after a week rife with losses.
Most-traded December lean hog futures closed at 79.400 cents a pound, up 0.425 cents. February contracts lost 0.475 cents to settle at 79.350 cents per pound.
The USDA reported pork carcass cutout value at $98.98 per cwt, up $1.80 on Friday afternoon.
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Most-active December live cattle futures closed at 221.350 cents a pound, up 2.575 cents a pound. February contracts gained 3.000 cents to settle at 219.350 cents per pound.
Most-traded January feeder contracts settled up 3.975 cents at 319.575 cents a pound. March futures closed at 313.975 cents a pound, up 2.675 cents.
Choice boxed beef lost $1.57 to end the afternoon at $376.40 per cwt. Select beef was valued at $361.09 per cwt, up $0.33 the USDA reported.
Comments from U.S. President Donald Trump calling for lower beef prices has traders anticipating a change to policy on New World screwworm, which has kept the border closed to Mexican cattle since July, wrote Kirk Maltais for the Wall Street Journal.
On Friday, Trump said he’d asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate meat packing companies in relation to beef prices.
“I have asked the DOJ to immediately begin an investigation into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, without mentioning the names of the companies.
-With files from Reuters
