Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures ended higher on Friday under support from stronger wholesale boxed beef prices and buying interest, though concerns over waning consumer demand for beef continued to linger over the market, analysts said.
Chicago lean hog contracts dipped as a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed inventories slightly up. Cattle futures were unchanged to slightly up.
Chicago Board of Trade corn and soybean futures hovered around multi-month lows on Thursday, with corn again notching life-of-contract lows, as favourable U.S. weather and expectations of record Brazilian crops maintained supply pressure.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures ended mixed on Wednesday as market players weighed waning demand from consumers and retailers while hog futures turned higher, following a seasonal pattern, traders said.
Chicago Board of Trade front and back-month corn futures notched lifetime lows on Wednesday on expectations of a hefty Brazilian corn crop and a lack of weather threats for the large U.S. corn crop that has recently been seeded, traders said.
Chicago wheat futures sank on Tuesday on pressure from the ongoing harvest in the U.S. Plains and Black Sea as well as a lack of weather threats, analysts said.
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.