Chicago cattle futures opened lower before rebounding to close up on Monday. Lean hog futures settled on either side of unchanged.
“Friday’s announcement on tariff reductions towards Brazil was seemingly blown out of proportion,” wrote analyst Christopher B. Swift. “I could not understand why such a lower opening on a 10 per cent reduction of tariffs on beef from Brazil.”
“The 10 per cent reduction doesn’t appear to even move the needle towards increasing margins to secondary meat processors,” Swift added.
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U.S. soybean futures climbed to the highest level since June 2024 on Monday as China’s state-owned grain trader COFCO ramped up buying following the recent Washington-Beijing trade deal, traders said.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday rolled back tariffs on more than 200 food products, including such staples as coffee, beef, bananas and orange juice. Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, Brazil will see the 10 per cent “reciprocal” tariff removed from beef, but not the additional 40 per cent imposed in August.
Most-active February live cattle futures closed at 221.775 cents a pound, up 2.250 cents. December contracts were up 2.125 cents to 221.275 cents per pound.
Most-traded January feeder contracts closed at 326.275 cents per pound, up 5.725 cents. March feeders settled at 318.550 cents per pound, up 5.200 cents.
Choice boxed beef lost $0.32 per cwt to close at $370.41 in the USDA’s afternoon report. Select beef rose by $2.06 to $356.30 per cwt.
Most-active February lean hog futures closed at 79.425 cents a pound, up 0.050 cents. April futures fell by 0.125 cents to 83.025 cents a pound.
Pork carcass cutout value sat at $97.01 per cwt, down $1.71 in the USDA’s afternoon report.
–With files from Reuters
