US lean hog futures fall - CME
December live cattle futures settle down
15 November 2024
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures fell on Thursday on profit-taking following recent gains, Reuters reported, citing analysts, while declining wholesale meat prices pressured both cattle and hogs.
CME December lean hog futures finished down 1.775 cents at 80.100 cents per pound.
CME December live cattle futures settled down 1.075 cents to 182.950 cents per pound, while most-active January feeder cattle futures dipped 0.450 cent to close at 243.200 cents per pound.
Profit taking in lean hogs came after rallies earlier in the week and a choppy trading session on Thursday, said Matthew Wiegand, a risk management consultant at FuturesOne.
In the wholesale market, pork carcasses lost $3.19 to $94.07 per hundredweight (cwt) on Thursday afternoon, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, with pork bellies dipping $20.78 to $129.49 per cwt.
Falling boxed beef prices also dragged on cattle futures. Choice boxed beef prices fell $3.14 to $303.80 per cwt, while select beef slid $2.00 to $276.66 per cwt, the USDA reported on Thursday afternoon.
Feeder cattle futures sustained smaller losses than live cattle as weak corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade limited declines, Wiegand said. Cheaper corn lowers the cost of feeding an animal before it is sold for slaughter.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, most active corn futures fell 7-1/2 cents to $4.19 per bushel.
Beef packer margins fell further into the red, with losses estimated $52.10 per head on Thursday, compared to losses of $47.20 per head on Wednesday and losses of $8.95 per head last week, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.
