Cattle and hog futures were down nearly across the board as the trading day ended at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Most active April live cattle futures settled at 193.800 cents per pound, down 0.975 cents. June live cattle closed at 189.975 cents a pound, down 0.950 cents.
Most active March feeder cattle futures closed at 266.825 cents a pound, down 2.200 cents. April live cattle futures settled at 266.372 cents per pound, down 2.225 cents.
Choice boxed beef ended the day at $312.63 per cwt, down $1.26, while select beef closed at $303.18 per cwt, down $0.58, as per the USDA’s afternoon report.
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Most active April lean hog futures settled at 88.525 cents per pound, down 1.225 cents. Second-most active June lean hogs closed at 101.450 cents per pound, down 1.150 cents.
The USDA reported pork carcass cutout value at $94.03 per cwt, down $1.49.
U.S. overall drought conditions improved since last week with 33.41 per cent of the U.S. in drought, down 8.4 per cent from a week ago the USDA reported this week. Of the lower states, 39.97 per cent of those states are in drought.
This puts approximately 34 per cent of U.S. cattle inventory in areas experiencing drought, the Cattle Range reported.
