Chicago | Reuters – Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group closed mixed on Monday, with nearby contracts pressured by surging feed grain prices and bearish data in Friday’s monthly U.S. Cattle on Feed report.
CME August live cattle futures LCQ3 settled down 1.275 cents at 178.750 cents per pound and most-active October LCV3 fell 1.600 cents to 180.300 cents per pound. But back months, including all contracts for 2024 delivery, ended higher on reminders of tightening U.S. cattle supplies.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday said producers placed 1.68 million cattle in feedlots during June, up 3% from 2022, while analysts, on average, had expected a decline. The high placements figure suggested that poor conditions persisting on grazing pastures encouraged producers to send more cattle than expected to feedlots last month, analysts said.
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However, in a semi-annual cattle report also released late on Friday, the USDA said farmers were raising the fewest number of beef cows since at least 1971, signaling tight cattle supplies overall.
CME August feeder cattle FCQ3 futures fell 2.675 cents on Monday to settle at 243.250 cents per pound as corn futures soared 6%, signaling higher feed grain costs. Corn and wheat futures surged in response to Russia’s escalating attacks on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure.
In the wholesale beef market, prices for choice cuts of boxed beef BEEF-US-CH rose $1.42 to $304.16 per hundredweight (cwt), while select cuts rose 26 cents to $276.99 per cwt.
CME October lean hog futures LHV3 settled down 1.600 cents at 82.650 cents per pound.
The USDA quoted the wholesale pork carcass cutout at $117.21 per cwt, up $1.96 from Friday.
–Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago.
