Chicago Mercantile Exchange livestock futures fell across the board on Wednesday.
Most-active February live cattle futures closed at 229.550 cents a pound, down 1.150 cents. April contracts also fell by 1.150 cents to settle at 229.125 cents.
Most-active January feeder cattle contracts closed at 341.525 cents per pound, a loss of 1.800 cents. March futures lost 1.275 cents to settle at 336.325 cents a pound.
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USDA boxed beef values also fell. Choice boxed beef was valued at $356.09 per cwt on Wednesday afternoon, down $2.79. Select beef fell by $2.67 to $346.43 per cwt.
Given that the U.S. cattle herd has shown few signs of expanding, after dropping to its lowest level in decades and sending cattle and beef prices soaring, traders have started to question when consumers will start choosing cheaper cuts of pork and chicken at the grocery store – rather than pricier beef cuts, said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities on Tuesday.
The uncertainty comes amid news that U.S. unemployment in November was higher than analyst expectations, driven largely by the loss of government positions, traders and market analysts said. However, traders said, the impact of that unemployment data was somewhat capped because the government shutdown prevented data collection for the October jobless rate.
Most-active February lean hog futures fell by 1.775 cents to 83.000 cents. April contracts settled at 87.950 cents a pound, down 1.750 cents.
The USDA reported pork carcass cutout value at $98.54 per cwt, down $0.02.
-With files from Reuters
