Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures rose to all-time highs on Thursday, with signs of strong export demand and good sales on the cash market supporting prices, traders said.
But cattle prices closed lower on a round of profit-taking as traders took money off the table ahead of key government supply reports on Friday.
“We have rallied basically the whole month,” said Austin Schroeder, a commodity analyst with Nebraska-based Brugler Marketing. “We were overbought.”
The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning that export sales of beef rose to 20,900 metric tons in the week ended July 13, up from 9,900 metric tons the prior week.
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August live cattle futures LCQ3 dropped 1 cent to settle at 180.325 cents per pound after hitting a fresh contract high of 182.975 cents during the session. On a continuous basis, that was the highest price on record for the front-month live cattle contract.
Technical resistance for August cattle was noted at the high end of the contract’s 20-day Bollinger range.
The most-active October live cattle contract LCV3 fell 0.975 cent to end at 182.75 cents per pound after topping out at 185.75 cents, also a contract high.
August feeder cattle FCQ3 fell 1.7 cents to 245.1 cents per pound.
USDA will provide a supply update on Friday when it issues a bi-annual inventory report and separate monthly data about the number of cattle on feed. Analysts surveyed by Reuters estimated there were 2.3% fewer cattle on feed on July 1 compared to a year earlier.
August lean hogs LHQ3 gained 2.7 cents to 100.625 cents per pound.
In the wholesale market, prices for select cuts of boxed beef fell $1.25 to $274.71 per hundredweight (cwt), while prices for choice cuts BEEF-US-CH were off $1.03 at $302.56 per hundredweight, USDA said.
— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago
