CME October 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures fall as supplies grow more than expected

U.S. frozen pork inventory at nine-year low

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures fell on Monday, with the market under pressure from a government report that showed supplies were bigger than expected. The U.S. Agriculture Department’s monthly Cattle on Feed report on Friday afternoon showed July placements at 111 per cent of a year ago, above the average estimate […] Read more

CME October 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle slide ahead of USDA report

Lean hogs pull back from gains

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell on Friday on profit-taking and positioning ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cattle on Feed report, released after the markets closed. CME lean hog futures also ended lower, correcting after two days of positive movement, as optimism over rising hog slaughter rates strengthened […] Read more


(PorcOlymel.com)

Olymel’s Red Deer plant holds at one COVID case

Pork plant employee's contacts returning to work

Reading Time: 2 minutes A production line employee at Olymel’s hog slaughter plant at Red Deer, Alta. remains the facility’s lone COVID-19 case after her contacts at the plant tested negative for the virus, the company says. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Quebec ag co-operative Sollio, confirmed the lone COVID-19 case at its Red Deer site on Aug. […] Read more

CME October 2020 lean hogs with 20- and 50-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Lean hogs up as slaughter pace reaches pre-COVID levels

Pre-Labour Day buying winds down

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures gained on Thursday as slaughter rates returned to levels not seen since processing plants closed from COVID-19 outbreaks among workers this spring. Live cattle futures fell as pre-Labour Day buying wound down and the industry awaited Friday’s monthly Cattle on Feed report from the U.S. […] Read more


CME October 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures firm on wholesale strength

Hogs up as slaughter outpaces year-earlier period

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures gained on Wednesday as boxed beef prices offered support ahead of the upcoming holiday weekend, traders said. “It’s the main week for retailers to lock up their Labour Day supplies. That’s kept a floor under the cash market,” said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing. […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Brandon pork plant’s exports to China suspended

Chinese protocols call for temporary pause, Maple Leaf says

Reading Time: 2 minutes New Chinese rules for exporters and a number of COVID-19 cases among its workers have led Maple Leaf Foods to temporarily halt pork traffic to China from its biggest hog plant. The company said Tuesday it has “temporarily suspended pork exports to China on a voluntary basis due to recent protocols adopted by the Chinese […] Read more


(Olymel video screengrab via YouTube)

Red Deer hog plant books first COVID case

One employee confirmed with virus, 13 isolating as precaution, company says

Reading Time: 2 minutes A major Prairie hog slaughter and processing plant relatively untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic has marked its first case of the coronavirus in a production line worker. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Quebec ag co-operative Sollio, said an employee who reported for work Monday last week at its Red Deer, Alta. plant began showing […] Read more

CME October 2020 lean hogs with 20- and 50-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Lean hog futures pull back on shaky demand

CME October live cattle remain flat

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures slid on Tuesday as traders eyed large seasonal hog supplies against uncertain domestic consumption and weak exports. CME October lean hogs settled 2.1 cents lower at 51.425 cents/lb. (all figures US$). “Supplies are large, and there’s always uncertainty about export demand,” said Doug Houghton, analyst […] Read more


CME October 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle step back after eight-session climb

Hog sector seen having 'curbed expansion'

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures pulled back on Monday in profit taking ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cattle on Feed report at the end of the week, traders said. Live cattle fell for the first day after eight sessions of gains. The pullback reflects uncertainty about the USDA […] Read more

CME October 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle rise on higher beef prices, grilling demand

CME October hogs also settle higher

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures continued to advance Friday, supported by increasing beef prices and expectations of continued meat demand going into the Labour Day weekend, traders said. Beef prices usually rise heading into the September holiday, when consumers often barbecue either at home or with family and friends. Beef […] Read more