Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed higher on Tuesday, on a technical bounce a day after falling to three-week lows, with optimism about a slight improvement in the U.S. slaughter pace lending support, traders said.
But worries about slowdowns at packing plants due to worker shortages continued to hang over the market, limiting rallies.
CME February live cattle futures settled up 1.425 cents at 137.675 cents/lb., while April futures rose 0.625 cent to end at 141.2 cents (all figures US$).
CME March feeder cattle futures ended up one cent at 166.35 cents/lb.
Read Also
Alberta crop conditions improve: report
Varied precipitation and warm temperatures were generally beneficial for crop development across Alberta during the week ended July 8, according to the latest provincial crop report released July 11.
U.S. beef processors killed 114,000 cattle on Tuesday, up from 113,000 on Monday and above Friday’s tally of 112,000 head, the smallest weekday kill since October.
Cash cattle traded lightly in Texas and Kansas at $137 per hundredweight, traders said, down about $1 from last week’s trades.
CME lean hog futures fell for a third straight session, with the benchmark February contract down 0.525 cent at 77.85 cents/lb.
Brokers awaited several key grain reports due Wednesday from USDA, including a monthly supply/demand report along with quarterly U.S. grain stocks and a survey of U.S. winter wheat seedings for 2022.
In world news, Latvia reported 19 cases of African swine fever (ASF) in wild boars across the country in the past week, and Hungary reported outbreaks in nine wild boars, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said.
Last week, ASF was confirmed in a wild boar in Italy’s Piedmont region. African swine fever is harmless to humans but often fatal to pigs, leading to financial losses for farmers.
In Thailand, authorities said ASF had been detected in a swab sample collected at a slaughterhouse, marking the country’s first official confirmation of the disease.
— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.
