Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) livestock futures turned higher on Tuesday, with cattle futures continuing to firm amid signals that cash market prices may ease, market analysts said.
Cash prices for cattle this week were expected to cool, as beef packer margins turned sharply downward this week.
Packers lost $58.50 per head on Tuesday, a larger loss than Monday and far bigger than the $9.20 loss per head seen a week ago, according to Denver-based livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com LLC.
But futures prices continued to hover well above the cash market, which lent support to cattle futures and grabbed the interest of market participants, said Don Roose, president of US Commodities.
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“The futures discount was just too big, and so I think we had technicals come back into the market,” Roose said.
Wholesale beef prices were mixed early in the day, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, with strength in choice cuts helping to support cattle futures early in the session.
The USDA reported the choice boxed beef cutout at $313.79 per hundredweight (cwt), up $0.35 from a day earlier. But select cuts were down $0.18 at $298.15 per cwt.
Meanwhile, lean hog futures turned higher on technical buying and recent strength in ham prices due in part to export demand from Mexico, traders said.
But how long that strength will last among wholesale prices is not clear, they said. USDA reported on Tuesday that both pork carcass and ham prices had fallen, though wholesale pork bellies were up.
CME August live cattle futures LCQ24 ended up 2.375 cents at 186.3 cents per pound, while most-active October live cattle futures LCV24 rose 1.525 cents at 186.125 cents per pound.
CME August feeders FCQ24 ended 2.35 cents higher at 258.75 cents per pound.
CME August lean hog futures LHQ24 settled up 1.275-cent at 93.65 cents per pound. October lean hog futures LHV24 ended up 1.15 cents at 77.125 cents per pound.
