Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures climbed on Wednesday as market players anticipated tighter cattle supplies in the first quarter of the new year, and there was some technical buying, according to analysts.
CME February live cattle LCG26 settled 1.125 cents higher at 231.600 cents per pound, and March feeder cattle FCH26 settled 0.750 cent higher at 345.325 cents per pound.
“There’s a lot of expectation that the cash fed cattle market is going to rally in the beginning of the year, which it normally does seasonally,” said Cassie Fish, analyst and author of the Beef newsletter.
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She added that there had been plenty of fund buying recently, as well as some “modest strength” in the cash cattle market, allowing futures to shrug off bearish factors such as consumers facing record high beef prices.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported on Wednesday afternoon that boxed beef values fell $0.75 to $347.45 per hundredweight for choice cuts and $0.78 to $342.38 per cwt for select cuts.
Beef packers lost $271.40 per head of cattle on Wednesday, according to livestock marketing advisory firm HedgersEdge.com, compared to $254.85 on Tuesday and $199.00 a week ago.
CME benchmark February lean hog futures LHG26 fell 0.350 cent to 85.100 cents per pound after ticking up on Tuesday.
The USDA on Wednesday afternoon reported pork carcasses fell $0.39 to $93.84 per cwt and bellies rose $3.52 to $122.50 per cwt.
