June lean hog futures rise - CME
Cattle futures rise on gains in the wholesale market
2 April 2025
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures jumped on Tuesday on strength in boxed beef after falling on technical weakness the previous day, Reuters reported, citing analysts.
June live cattle ended up 1.775 cents at 205.425 cents per pound. May feeder cattle settled up 2.650 cents at 287.150 cents per pound.
The US Department of Agriculture reported a $7.60 rise in choice cuts of boxed beef on Tuesday morning to $342.86 per hundredweight (cwt).
Select cuts rose $2.20 to $322.21 per cwt.
Those firming wholesale values drove a rally in cattle futures, according to Cassie Fish, analyst and author of the Beef newsletter.
Boxed beef continued to rise in the afternoon, the USDA said, with choice cuts up $6.96 to $342.22 per cwt and select cuts up $2.06 to $322.07 per cwt.
"We're obviously getting early spring demand for the rib and loin, the rib eye, the tenderloin, the middle meat," said Fish.
And she pointed out, slaughter numbers two weeks ago were very low, having been impacted by weather conditions in the middle of the country.
Those factors pushed futures up after they fell on a technical dip on Monday, having failed to reach new contract highs, according to analysts.
Traders also continued to worry about the impact of the anticipated announcement of a wide swath of tariffs on goods imported to the US on Wednesday.
Retaliation against US agricultural products is feared, with China, Japan and South Korea, some of the largest consumers of US beef, promising to respond jointly to any such tariffs.
Meanwhile CME June lean hog futures rose 1.750 cents to 97.025 cents per pound.
In wholesale pork, the USDA reported pork carcasses on Tuesday afternoon lost $1.94 to $95.51 per cwt.
