CME October 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines) and lean hog cash index (blue line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs rise, narrowing discount to cash market

Technical selling drags on live cattle

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures firmed on Friday, led by the nearby October contract, in a technical and bargain-buying rally that narrowed the market’s sizeable discount to the exchange’s lean hog index, traders said. Actively traded October futures scaled to a 3-1/2 week peak and closed near its session high, […] Read more

(Olymel video screengrab via YouTube)

Union rejects province’s call for arbitration in Olymel strike

Labour minister had proposed third-party settlement

Reading Time: 2 minutes A proposal from Quebec’s labour minister to end a four-month strike at a major hog slaughter plant, which has created a backlog of market-weight hogs on farms in Eastern Canada, has been rejected by the workers’ union. Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet, at a meeting Thursday morning, put out a proposal to meat packer Olymel […] Read more


CME October 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (red, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures fall on lower cash cattle

Hogs down on supply expectations

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell for a third day on Thursday, as the softer cash market in the southern U.S. Plains weighed on futures, traders said. “This cash just continues to struggle,” said Joe Kooima, commodity broker at Kooima Kooima Varilek Trading Inc. “We’ve just got that anchor in […] Read more

File photo of hogs in an outdoor pen on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (EAGiven/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. seeks to protect pork exports if swine fever hits territories

Policy would distinguish Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands from mainland

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The United States said on Thursday it is seeking to avoid disruptions to pork exports if the territories of Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands detect the fatal pig disease African swine fever. The risk for infections in the territories is higher after the Dominican Republic last month confirmed the […] Read more


CME October 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures ease as beef prices cool

Lean hog index still at premium to futures

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures eased on Wednesday, as beef prices eased ahead of the Labour Day holiday, traditionally a big beef consumption holiday, traders said. “We’re getting into that lull period ahead of the Labour Day holiday, where the retailers have already got their product purchased from the packers,” […] Read more

CME October 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, red and brown lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures post new highs, end mixed

Hogs down on supply outlook

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures rallied to contract highs on Tuesday but ended mixed, with nearby contracts pressured by ideas that beef prices are topping out after a surge to nearly 15-month highs, traders said. Deferred live cattle contracts, however, were higher on the day on concerns about tight cattle […] Read more


(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Olymel’s striking Quebec workers get layoff ultimatum

Hog slaughter plant idle since late April

Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated — The threat of job losses for about half the unionized workers at a major pork packing plant in Quebec is its owners’ latest bid to end a four-month strike. Olymel announced Tuesday it will “abolish” the evening shift at its hog slaughter and processing plant at Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km southeast of Quebec […] Read more

(Olymel video screengrab via YouTube)

Time for arbitration in Olymel strike, PQ says

Province's new mediator not enough, party says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Quebec’s third opposition party is calling on the province’s CAQ government to propose arbitration for an end to a strike at a major pork slaughter plant. The Parti Quebecois’ ag critic, Matane-Matapedia MNA Pascal Berube, and its labour critic, Jonquiere MNA Sylvain Gaudreault, made the pitch Friday, after workers from Olymel’s plant at Vallee-Jonction voted […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan sees higher cattle, hog inventories at July 1

Full impacts of West's drought not yet counted

Reading Time: 3 minutes Nationwide head counts of livestock from the “early stages” of Western Canada’s ongoing drought won’t yet show the weather’s full impact, but showed slightly larger herds heading into this summer compared to last year. Statistics Canada on Monday reported the first year-over-year increase in the size of the country’s cattle herd as of July 1 […] Read more

CME October 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle rebound on improving cash markets, beef prices

CME lean hogs also up off Thursday losses

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rebounded from prior-session losses on Friday, supported by signs of improving cash cattle prices and firming wholesale beef values, traders said. Prices, however, continued to struggle to break out of their recent trading range as concerns about slowing global economic growth and rising […] Read more