Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures rose for a sixth consecutive session on Wednesday, and the front-month contract touched its highest point in four-and-a-half years, on higher cash market prices and strong beef demand.
Most contracts posted life-of-contract highs, extending a multi-session rally, amid rising beef imports by China and improved domestic demand as more consumers are returning to restaurants and resuming travel after nearly two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
Markets will be closed on Thursday for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will report a fresh week of U.S. beef export sales data early on Friday.
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Cash cattle bids at southern U.S. Plains feedlot markets traded at higher prices this week, from $136/cwt on Tuesday and up to $140/cwt on Wednesday, traders said. The bulk of sales last week in the region were at $134.
CME’s most-active February live cattle contract gained 1.45 cents to end at 140.875 cents/lb. Spot December added 2.5 cents to close at 137.9 cents, the highest point for a front-month contract since April 2017.
CME feeder cattle also gained lifted by tight supplies. January futures ended 2.55 cents higher at 166.925 cents/lb., the highest for a front-month contract since January 2016.
CME lean hog futures ended mixed, with actively traded nearby contracts lifted by spillover support from rallying cattle futures.
CME December lean hogs settled 1.275 cent higher at 75.425 cents/lb., while February hogs added 0.975 cent to close at 84.25 cents. Deferred-month contracts were as much as 0.95 cent lower.
— Karl Plume reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.
