Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle and feeder cattle futures jumped on Thursday as traders adjusted positions ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly cattle on feed report and saw strong U.S. export demand, according to analysts.
October live cattle LCV24 settled up 1.675 cents at 179.975 cents per pound and reached the contract’s highest price since Aug. 16. October feeder cattle futures FCV24 ended up 3.825 cents at 243.775 cents per pound and reached its highest price since Aug. 2.
Analysts expect USDA’s report will show there were 0.9% more cattle in U.S. feedlots on Sept. 1 than a year earlier, according to a Reuters poll. Analysts expected August cattle placements to be down 1% last year, and marketings in August to be 3.4 per cent below last year.
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Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting, said it was also a good week for U.S. beef export sales, which rose 36% per cent in the week ended Sept 12. from the previous week.
“And then you throw in the cheaper feed grains and that’s given cattle even more support,” Setzer said.
Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures both ended down on Thursday.
The dollar extended declines after the Federal Reserve cut rates by half of a percentage point, making U.S. farm products more attractive to importers. U.S. stocks shot higher, also supporting cattle futures on Thursday, traders said.
Choice boxed beef prices fell by 1.82 cents to $299.56 per hundredweight and select cuts of boxed beef fell by 1.49 cents to $288.26 per hundredweight, according to USDA data on Thursday.
CME October lean hog futures LHV24 ended up 0.2 cent at 82.25 cents per pound.
