Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle and hog futures climbed on Tuesday on position squaring between the Christmas and New Year holidays, analysts said.
CME February live cattle LCG26 settled 1.500 cents higher at 230.475 cents per pound, and March feeder cattle FCH26 settled 2.900 cents higher at 344.575 cents per pound.
CME benchmark February lean hog futures LHG26 rose 0.975 cent to 85.450 cents per pound.
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Cattle futures were buoyed as packers worked quickly with a short week ahead of the New Year holiday, according to an analyst note.
But Austin Schroeder, a commodity analyst with Brugler Marketing and Management, said the jumps in both cattle and hog futures were mostly attributable to traders positioning on a day of light trade between two major holidays.
Lean hogs bounced back after falling on Monday, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s quarterly hogs and pigs report last week showing larger numbers than expected, analysts said.
The USDA on Tuesday afternoon reported pork bellies fell $5.10 to $118.98 per hundredweight.
In boxed beef, choice cuts fell $1.13 to $348.20 per cwt, according to USDA data as of Tuesday afternoon. Select cuts lost $2.46 to $343.16 per cwt.
Beef packers lost $254.85 per head of cattle on Monday, according to livestock marketing advisory firm HedgersEdge.com, compared to $235.00 on Friday and $141.30 a week ago.
-Reporting by Renee Hickman
