Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange hit fresh contract highs once again on Tuesday, with expectations for declining U.S. inventories behind some of the buying interest.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual cattle on feed report will be released Friday, with average trade guesses calling for a decline in U.S. cattle numbers.
Overbought technical signals kept a lid on the upside, with both feeder and live cattle futures holding below the contract highs hit Monday.
The April live cattle contract was up by 3.450 cents per pound at 207.275 cents.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
March feeder cattle futures were up by 3.000 cents per pound at 278.250 cents per pound.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported wholesale boxed beef prices were stronger Monday afternoon, with choice boxes up $2.37 at $332.45 per hundredweight and select boxes up $1.41 at $321.96.
Lean hog prices were stronger, rising 1.025 cents per pound in the April contract at 90.900 cents.
Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processor in the U.S., returned to the North American equity markets on Tuesday with an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange valuing the company at around $8 billion. Hong Kong-based WH Group has owned the company for the past 11 years and will remain a major shareholder.
