US live cattle hit 4.5-year high, lean hogs gain on good demand
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) reports live cattle futures climb
23 November 2021
2 minute read
Live cattle futures on the CME climbed for a fourth straight session on Monday, with front-month contract hitting a fresh 4.5-year high on strong demand, reported Reuters.
Supported by good demand, lean hog futures also firmed.
Lighter-than-normal trading volumes aided livestock futures' advance on Monday, with little selling pressure ahead of this week's US Thanksgiving holiday allowing markets to hold their gains.
Meat demand remains robust in both domestic and export markets as more consumers are returning to restaurants and resuming travel.
Supply chain disruptions - from understaffed US packing plants to export restrictions on Brazilian beef following a case of BSE - further supported markets. Mexico has been a strong buyer of US pork, and US beef sales to China are soaring as global supplies tighten.
"The United States just continues to ship pork and, especially, beef overseas ... The demand side is definitely there," said Karl Setzer, commodity risk analyst with Agrivisor.
"When you've got low volume mixed with a little bit of bullish news and it's a holiday week, it's a lot easier to push the market around," he added.
CME's most-active February live cattle contract gained 1.275 cents to end at 138.975 cents per pound. The spot December contract rose 0.900 cent to 134.425 cents per pound.
CME January feeder cattle futures rose 0.775 cent to 161.700 cents per pound.
CME December lean hogs settled up 0.900 cent at 74.650 cents per pound while February hogs added 0.550 cent to close at 83.025 cents.
Source: Reuters
