Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell for a second day on Thursday after reaching three-week highs earlier in the week, as traders awaited the results of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s next Cattle on Feed report, due on Friday.
Feeder cattle gained for a fifth straight session on demand for stocker calves after rains this month replenished grazing pastures in the southern Plains.
Benchmark February live cattle LCG25 futures settled down 0.500 cent at 187.425 cents per pound. CME January feeder cattle FCF25 settled up 1.125 cent at 253.450 cents per pound, its highest since July.
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Traders are awaiting the upcoming USDA Cattle on Feed report, which is expected to show October placements to be 3.8 per cent larger than a year ago, while marketings were seen up 5.2 per cent, according to a Reuters poll of analysts.
Rising wholesale beef prices have helped to minimize losses for beef packers, although their margins were estimated to still be in the red on Thursday.
The USDA said the choice boxed beef cutout rose 40 cents to $306.79 per hundredweight (cwt), while select boxed beef gained $1.93 to $272.92 per cwt.
Beef packers, meanwhile, were estimated to be losing an average of $39.60 per head on Thursday, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge. That was a greater loss than Monday’s $21.60 but up from losses of $52.10 a week ago.
CME lean hog futures advanced for a second day on Thursday, with most-active February futures LHG25 up 0.175 cents at 84.650 cents per pound.
The CME lean hog index price was $87.83 for the two days ending Nov. 19.
In the wholesale pork market, the USDA priced pork carcasses on Thursday afternoon at $93.07 per cwt, down $1.53 from Wednesday.
