Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live hog futures rose to their highest since July 2019 on Tuesday, underpinned by strong demand.
Cattle futures weakened for the fourth time in five days, with the most-active April live cattle contract sinking to a one-month low as activity at meat processors picked up with improving weather in the U.S. Plains.
CME April lean hog futures rose 1.3 cents to 86.425 cents/lb. (all figures US$).
“Exports have held up with China herd expansion continuing to be watched,” FuturesOne said in a note to clients.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
CME April live cattle futures dropped 1.85 cents to close at 121.2 cents/lb., while the spot February contract dipped 0.1 cent to 115.625 cents/lb.
The April contract closed below its 30-day moving average for the first time since Jan. 15.
CME April feeder cattle fell 0.675 cent to 142.6 cents/lb.
Daily slaughter rates were strong, with the U.S. Agriculture Department reporting on Tuesday that 122,000 head of cattle were killed, the most since Dec. 1. The daily hog slaughter was pegged at 497,000 head, matching Monday’s level, which was the most since Jan. 21.
USDA also said that frozen beef stocks as of Jan. 31 stood at 519.186 million lbs, down three per cent from a month earlier but up six per cent from a year ago.
Frozen pork belly stocks rose two per cent from the previous month to 31.25 million lbs. — a figure down 56 per cent from a year earlier.
— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.
