U.S. livestock: Hog, cattle futures fall despite strong demand

Markets see 'a risk-off day'

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Published: May 31, 2022

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CME July 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and dark red lines) and CME lean hog index (black line). (Barchart)

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group lean hog futures fell on Tuesday, amid outside pressure from agricultural markets, despite strength from strong slaughter and cash hog prices.

“We just had a risk-off day,” said Matthew Wiegand, Risk Management Consultant at FuturesOne. “Cash trade kicked up and is trading above the board.”

The CME’s lean hog index, a two-day weighted average of cash hog prices, added 53 cents, to $104.93/cwt (all figures US$).

The nearby June hogs contract lost 2.425 cents, to 107.975 cents/lb. Most-active July hog futures fell 3.725 cents, to 108 cents/lb.

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Hog processors slaughtered 480,000 head, up 7,000 vs. a week ago and 20.6% higher than the same time a year earlier.

Meanwhile, live and feeder cattle futures fell, despite good demand for meat and strong processing pace, Wiegand noted.

“You had good boxed-beef movement and price action coming out of the weekend. Early cash trade was still solidly above the board on live cattle as well,” he said.

CME June live cattle dropped 1.65 cents, to 130.525 cents/lb., while the most-active August live cattle lost 2.025 cents to 130.375 cents/lb.

CME August feeder cattle fell 1.2 cents to 165.125 cents/lb.

Prices for choice cuts of boxed beef firmed $2.12, to $267.54/cwt, on Tuesday, while select cuts rose $2.15, to $248.65, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.

Cash cattle traded from $135/cwt. in the southern U.S. Plains to $140/cwt in the northern Plains, the USDA said.

Packers slaughtered 126,000 head of cattle on Monday, up slightly from a week ago and a 32.63 per cent increase from the same day in 2021.

— Christopher Walljasper reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

About the author

Christopher Walljasper

Christopher Walljasper

Chicago-based Thomson Reuters' reporter covering U.S. food production, supply chain, U.S. hunger and farm labor. Born in a farming community in Southeast Iowa, he graduated from Monmouth College in Illinois and received his master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

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