Chicago | Reuters—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.
CME August live cattle LCQ25 settled 4.1 cents higher to 213.3 cents per pound. August feeders FCQ25 finished the day up 4.6 cents at 307.90 cents per pound after trading both sides of unchanged. The choice boxed beef cutout value rose $1.44 to $396.49 per cwt and select cuts rose $3.19 to $382.93 per cwt.
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“Cash trade might have topped out but wholesale beef keeps pulling higher,” Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale, said.
CME lean hog futures ended higher, with actively traded August hogs LHQ25 settling up 0.025 cent to 110.275 cents per pound.
Though hog futures came under pressure from a bearish USDA report on Thursday and falling wholesale values, demand has remained strong, traders said.
The USDA in its quarterly hogs and pigs report that was released after the market’s close said the inventory of hogs and market-ready hogs increased slightly from the same time period in the previous year.
