Chicago | Reuters – Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rose for a second session on Wednesday in technical trading, as wholesale beef prices firmed, traders said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture quoted the choice boxed beef cutout value at $366.18 per hundredweight (cwt) on Wednesday morning, up $1.42 from a day earlier. Select cuts rose by $2.41 to $362.25 per cwt.
Cattle futures also continued to gain support on recent rumors being debunked that the New World screwworm parasite might cross the border from Mexico into the U.S. cattle herd, market analysts said.
Read Also
U.S. grains: Soybeans regain ground on slowed South American harvest
Chicago | Reuters – Chicago soybean futures bounced on Wednesday on a slow start to the South American harvest. Meanwhile,…
CME February live cattle futures LCG26 settled up 0.725 cent at 233.100 cents per pound, while April live cattle futures LCJ26 ended 0.375 cent higher at 234.950 cents per pound.
March feeder cattle futures FCH26 ended up 1.700 cents at 359.375 cents per pound.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to report on Friday the number of cattle on feed in feedlots on January 1 was down 3.2 per cent from a year earlier, analysts forecast, as cattle supplies remain tight and the size of the U.S. herd is at decade lows.
Livestock traders may also have seen some bullish price support from a cooling risk of tariffs with the European Union, said Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale Inc.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly stepped back from threats to impose tariffs as leverage to seize Greenland and ruled out the use of force.
Trump said a deal was in sight to end a dispute over the Danish territory that risked the deepest rupture in transatlantic relations in decades.
Meanwhile, lean hog futures ticked higher, with most-active April lean hogs LHJ26 ending up 0.425 cent at 95.60 cents per pound.
Hog futures continued to gain strength on market chatter and farmers talking about pig diseases – specifically porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus – circulating in U.S. hog operations that threaten to curb pork production, analysts said.
“We have heard recent concerns over what this could mean for winter farrowings,” said Nelson, adding that growing concern over whether disease pressures could result in tightening hog supplies going into the fall.
The USDA on Wednesday also reported pork carcasses prices rising, up 94 cents to $94.41 per cwt, and pork belly prices jumped $6.79 to $129.23 per cwt.
