Beef futures slump after Trump urges ranchers to cut prices - CME

Hog futures also fall as livestock markets face volatility

calendar icon 23 October 2025
clock icon 1 minute read

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) feeder cattle futures sank by their daily maximum on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said ranchers needed to lower price, reported Reuters

Trump has sought to reduce beef prices that reached records this year due to tight cattle supplies and strong consumer demand.

His administration announced an effort to rebuild the country's herd, which dwindled to its smallest level in decades after years of drought dried up grazing lands and hiked feeding costs.

Trump recently said the US could import more Argentine beef to cut prices, angering ranchers. Economists warned that increased imports and lower cattle prices would discourage ranchers from expanding their herds.

"It is imperative that President Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins let the cattle markets work," said Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

November feeder cattle futures tumbled by the 9.25-cent limit to 364.225 cents per pound. December live cattle ended down 5.6 cents at 239.825 cents per pound.

Both contracts set highs last week.

On Thursday, CME will temporarily widen its daily trading limits to 13.75 cents for feeder cattle and 10.75 cents for live cattle.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that ranchers were benefiting from tariffs he imposed on imports.

"The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don't understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil," Trump wrote. "They also have to get their prices down, because the consumer is a very big factor in my thinking, also!"

Trump's tariffs on Brazilian goods this summer slowed US beef imports from Brazil, prompting meat importers to pay higher prices to other suppliers, traders said.

US cattle supplies also tightened after Washington halted imports of Mexican livestock to keep out the flesh-eating New World screwworm pest.

"Cattle farms have been decimated by years of low prices, drought and the threat of the New World screwworm," said American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall. "They are just beginning to experience a fragile recovery."

In CME's lean hog market, December futures slipped 0.875 cent to 82.400 cents per pound.

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