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

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle at two-month high on strong beef demand

December hogs follow pork lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures reached a two-month high on Monday amid expectations for solid demand for beef, traders said. Gains in cash cattle prices last week helped support futures, traders said. Meat packers killed an estimated 121,000 cattle at U.S. slaughtering plants on Monday, unchanged from a week ago, […] Read more

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U.S. livestock: Live cattle end higher, lean hogs eases

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures finished higher on Friday and gained about 1 percent for the week, helped by solid export demand, traders said. Demand from China has been particularly strong, fueled by the appetites of a growing Chinese middle class and diplomatic tensions with rival supplier Australia. The U.S. […] Read more


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U.S. livestock: Lean hogs climb on strong exports

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures climbed to their highest in nearly two weeks on Thursday, supported by strong weekly export sales and tighter supplies of market-ready hogs, analysts said. “Hog numbers are still running below last year. If that continues to tighten up, I think that boosts the back months […] Read more

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U.S. livestock: Live cattle firms on stronger cash, wholesale market

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures firmed on Wednesday, underpinned by stronger cash trade as packers pull more cattle forward, while wholesale beef prices added support, analysts said. “It does seem like the packers have picked up the production for cattle lately,” said Doug Houghton, technical analyst at Brock Capital Management. […] Read more


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U.S. livestock: Lean hog futures slip amid export demand doubts

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures slipped on Tuesday, as uncertainty over Chinese pork demand continued and animal weights were expected to increase on cooling U.S. temperatures, analysts said. Meanwhile, Chicago’s cattle futures firmed a bit on Tuesday, amid steady slaughter rates and market expectations that cash prices should continue to […] Read more

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U.S. livestock: CME feeder cattle futures slide to five-month low

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures hit a one-week low on Monday on bigger-than-expected U.S. supplies, while feeder cattle dropped to a five-month low, analysts said. Traders have been expecting cattle supplies to tighten but did not see signs of it in October, said Rich Nelson, chief strategist for agricultural commodities […] Read more


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U.S. livestock: Cattle futures fall; hog futures rise as traders look at cash prices

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell for the second day in a row on Friday, with traders saying that prices were still too high compared to cash market. High prices for corn and wheat that weighed on cattle producers’ profit margins added further pressure. But traders noted the opposite in […] Read more

cow in a feedlot

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures fall after three days of gains, hogs firm

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell on Thursday, snapping three sessions of gains on some profit-taking, traders said. Fresh signs of strength in the cash cattle markets had already been priced in, a trader said, and sharply higher prices for grain raised concerns about increased feeding costs. Hog futures were […] Read more


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U.S. livestock: Cattle futures hit near two-month high as cash markets firm

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures rose for the third day in a row on Wednesday, nearing a two-month high on signs of improving cash markets. Traders also said a stepped-up pace of slaughter in recent days indicated demand for beef remains high. CME lean hog futures closed lower, with the front-month […] Read more

Security wear face masks at the Greeley, Colorado, JBS USA meat packing plant where two staff members had died of COVID-19, April 8, 2020.   Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo

Coronavirus infections at U.S. meat plants far higher than previous estimates, House subcommittee hears

Cases and deaths from COVID-19 among workers at the leading U.S. meatpacking plants were three times as high as previously estimated, according to a report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis seen by Reuters. The subcommittee surveyed major meatpackers Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill, National Beef , and Smithfield Foods, which together control over 80 percent […] Read more