Chicago | Reuters — Lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange tumbled on Thursday as a drop in wholesale pork prices coupled with worries about the global economy sparked a round of profit-taking, analysts said.
Livestock futures, grains and Wall Street equity markets all declined on Thursday as the U.S. dollar set a six-month high one day after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled policy would remain restrictive for longer. The Fed’s stance clouded prospects for U.S. exports and economic growth.
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Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) late Wednesday quoted the wholesale pork carcass cutout at $99.22 per hundredweight (cwt), down $1.91 from the previous day. The cutout fell another 47 cents on Thursday, to $98.75/cwt, the lowest in a week.
“The pork cutout was down, and I still think there are expectations for the seasonal trend lower to continue in cash (hog) prices. And probably a sense that the (hog futures) rally earlier in the week was overdone,” said Doug Houghton, analyst for Brock Associates.
CME October lean hog futures settled down 2.825 cents at 82.95 cents/lb., and most-active December hogs fell the daily limit of 3.75 cents to finish at 74.475 cents, retreating from a 4-1/2-month high set on Wednesday.
Daily limits on lean hog futures will widen to 5.5 cents for Friday’s trading session, the CME said.
Hog traders shrugged off decent weekly export data. U.S. pork export sales in the week to Sept. 14 totaled 30,200 metric tonnes, USDA said, up 31 per cent from the previous week and up one per cent from the prior four-week average.
Weekly beef sales of 13,700 tonnes were up 15 per cent from the prior four-week average.
In cattle markets, CME live cattle futures followed hogs and equities lower as traders await USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed report, due Friday.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expect USDA to report the number of cattle in U.S. feedlots as of Sept. 1 at 11.023 million head, down 2.3 per cent from a year ago, and placements into feedlots during August were seen down 6.4 per cent from a year ago.
CME October live cattle futures settled down 1.8 cents on Thursday at 184.975 cents/lb., and most-active December ended down 2.025 cents at 189.5 cents.
October feeder cattle futures settled down 2.8 cents at 257.775 cents/lb.
— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.
