Chicago cattle and lean hogs made gains almost across the board, continuing yesterday’s upward trend.
Most active June live cattle settled at 199.800 cents per pound for a gain of 0.725 cents. August live cattle contracts closed at 196.850 cents a pound, up 1.025 cents.
Most active May feeder cattle futures settled at 282.525 cents, up 1.575 cents per pound, while August feeders closed at 288.250 cents per pound, up 2.100 cents.
Choice boxed beef ended the day at $335.43 per cwt for a slight loss of $0.20. Select boxed beef lost $0.61 to settle at $315.24, the USDA said in its afternoon report.
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Most active lean hog futures settled at 95.175 cents per pound, a gain of 0.050 cents. July lean hogs closed down slightly at 95.475 cents a pound, for a loss of 0.025 cents.
Pork carcass cutout value ended the day at $91.73 per cwt, a loss of $1.03.
Last week, the University of Michigan’s surveys of consumer information showed that U.S. consumer sentiment has reached levels of pessimism not seen since the early 1980’s, noted agricultural economist Glynn T. Tonsor in an article yesterday.
Last year saw higher beef consumption and prices, signaling increasing domestic demand and underpinning the sector’s economic viability. However, looking back to the 1980s, that pessimistic era saw “multiple instances of declining beef demand that ultimately shrunk the industry,” Tonsor wrote.
“The broad point here would be for industry stakeholders, analysts, and policymakers to not take strong beef demand for granted,” Tonsor said. “Recent years have been characterized by strong demand for U.S. beef and hopefully for industry stakeholders that can persist. That said, macroeconomic history lessons and development of associated “storm clouds” should not simply be ignored.”
—Prices reported in U.S. dollars
