Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog and live cattle futures closed higher on Monday, as meat processing facilities began to open after closures of more than 20 plants due to coronavirus illnesses among workers. Rising pork and beef cutout prices have also helped give futures a boost on Monday, said Mark Schultz, chief analyst […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures inch up as plants reopen
Rising wholesale prices support futures
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures climb with wholesale meat prices
About 20 North American meat plants offline
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures closed higher on Friday after touching a three-week top, buoyed by firm cash cattle values and surging wholesale beef prices as labor shortages slow the U.S. slaughter pace, traders said. New-month buying by speculators may have also lent support, they said. Chicago Mercantile Exchange June live cattle […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs climb on strong pork exports, wholesale prices
Packer margins, wholesale beef prices support live cattle futures
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures rose on Thursday as bullish weekly U.S. pork export data and rising wholesale prices overshadowed worries about a slowdown in the U.S. hog slaughter pace backing up hog supplies, traders said. “You’ve got a combination of export sales being strong (and) the wholesale market trading very firm […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs mostly lower as packing-plant woes persist
Backlog concerns drag on cattle
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures closed mostly lower on Wednesday, setting back from a one-month high set a day earlier in the benchmark June contract as traders mulled the implications of a presidential order for U.S. meat packing plants to remain open, traders said. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered meat-processing plants […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs pare gains as Trump plans order to keep meat plants open
Cattle up with wholesale beef prices
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures hit a four-week peak on Tuesday on worries about tightening pork supplies as the coronavirus shutters meat processing plants, but the market pared gains on news that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to order such sites to stay open. June lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs limit up on fears of tightening supplies
Cattle up on rising beef packer margins
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures rose their daily limit on Monday on fears of tightening domestic pork supplies as the coronavirus pandemic forces slowdowns at slaughterhouses, analysts said. June lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled up the daily maximum of 3.75 cents at 55.275 cents/lb., the contract’s highest since […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Profit-taking, technical selling pressure hogs, live cattle
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog and live cattle futures eased on Friday, with end-of-week profit-taking and technical selling pressuring the livestock markets, traders said. Strong consumer demand for pork underpinned the hog futures, which rose 17.4 per cent this week. “The pork product markets continue to scream higher and have begun to pull lean […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures weaken, hog contracts rise
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — CME Group hog futures rose on Thursday while cattle futures eased as traders struggled to assess the long-term demand impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic. “For livestock, traders are still trying to figure out where to take this market given the uncertainty of meat demand for the rest of the year,” […] Read more
Tyson to shutter beef facility as workers tested
Beef plant employees asked to isolate at home
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — A Tyson Foods unit said Thursday it will temporarily halt production at a beef facility at Pasco, Washington, adding to the meat processing plant the company has had to shutter as it tests workers for COVID-19. Tyson said Wednesday it was closing two pork processing plants, including its largest in the U.S., further […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Lean hog, live cattle futures fall on plant shutdowns
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog and live cattle futures eased on Wednesday, with the cash market for the animals weak as processing plants were forced to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, traders said. Tyson Foods will indefinitely suspend operations at its largest U.S. pork plant to contain the spread of the coronavirus, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
