Livestock-CME feeder cattle futures tick up as seasonal demand rises
CME•Boxed beef prices rise while hog supplies tighten in heat
Boxed beef prices rose with choice cuts of beef gaining $2.97 to $365.86 per hundredweight (cwt), according to the USDA on Tuesday afternoon. Select cuts fell $1.64 to $343.52 per cwt.
Roose said hog demand had also begun to pick up as extreme heat lowered supplies and added support.
"The hogs are raised inside and when you get terrific heat like this, they just don't perform as well. They don't eat as well," he said.
The CME lean hog index price was quoted at $98.23.
The USDA priced the pork carcass cutout at $103.91 per cwt, down $0.54.
Seasonal beef demand and cash market discount support prices
"As we get into the beginning of August, the seasonal demand starts to pick up on beef, primarily because of school lunch buying and also Labor Day buying," said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities.
Roose said the futures market was also trading at too high of a discount to the cash market.
Those factors countered the pressure that came on Monday after U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said last week the U.S. would lift a ban on imports of Mexican cattle imposed more than a year ago.
The restriction had been imposed to prevent the spread of the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating livestock pest.
On Monday, most Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures contracts fell by their daily limit of 10.75 cents per pound following Rollins' announcement.
