Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures edged lower on Tuesday on technical selling after setting contract highs in the previous session as traders weighed whether a seasonal peak in cash hog prices has petered out, analysts said.
Cattle futures ended the day mixed as select boxed beef prices continued to move higher, though market players have questioned whether consumers will remain willing to pay up for pricey beef.
Demand for beef is expected to decline following a series of holidays when beef consumption typically rises, including Father’s Day and the upcoming U.S. Independence Day holiday.
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CME August live cattle LCQ25 settled 0.175 cent higher at 209.55 cents per pound. August feeders FCQ25 finished the day down 0.55 cent at 302.25 cents per pound.
The choice boxed beef cutout value dipped rose by $4.03 on Tuesday to $394.25 per cwt. The select cutout lost 69 cents to $382.41 per cwt.
CME lean hog futures ended down, with actively-traded August LHQ25 settling down 2.1 cents to 110.95 cents per pound.
Hog prices typically peak in June and July, when the supply of hogs is at a seasonal low and demand is high.
The U.S. hog herd was likely smaller on June 1 than it was a year earlier, a Reuters survey of analysts showed on Tuesday, ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s quarterly Hogs and Pigs report.
—Reporting by Heather Schlitz
