Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange climbed on Friday, supported by resilient cash cattle prices across the U.S. Plains this week, traders said.
“We had cash come right back,” said Joe Kooima, commodity broker at Kooima Kooima Varilek Trading Inc. “Cash was a dollar better in the south.”
Cash cattle bids rebounded in both the northern and southern U.S. plains, after slipping earlier in the week, trading at $158 per hundredweight (cwt) in Nebraska, while cash bids in parts of the Texas panhandle climbed a dollar to $154, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said (all figures US$).
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Cash could see pressure if processers continue to ease slaughter rates. Through Saturday, processors are set to kill 652,000 head, down 11,000 head from the same period last week and 30,000 fewer than the same period in 2022, according to USDA data.
Boxed beef prices were mixed much of the week, but ended higher, with choice cuts adding $1.65 to $248.93 per cwt, while select cuts added 71 cents to $221.26/cwt, USDA said.
Most-active CME January feeder cattle inched up 0.45 cents, to 183.925 cents/lb., adding 0.781 per cent for the week.
CME benchmark February live cattle firmed 1.625 cents to 155.55 cents/lb., while the spot December contract lifted 1.25 cent, to 153.675 cents/lb.
For the week, the CME’s February live cattle eased 0.209 per cent.
Meanwhile, lean hogs eased for a fourth consecutive session as processors see ample market-ready supplies, Kooima said.
“The barns around here are pretty plum full,” he said. “I’m more concerned about the next two months, chewing through the numbers we haven’t in a while.”
CME February lean hogs eased 0.7 cent, to 84 cents/lb., while nearby December hogs dropped 0.425 cent, to 81.575 cents/lb.
The CME’s lean hog index, a two-day weighted average of cash hog prices, dipped 31 cents to $82.47 per cwt.
— Christopher Walljasper reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.
