Cattle futures climb on tight supply, strong beef demand - CME
Lean hogs edge higher as pork prices ease
19 June 2025
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures rose on Wednesday, but stayed bellow all-time highs set last week, while tight US cattle supplies and rising beef prices continued to underpin the market ahead of a US holiday, Reuters reported, citing traders.
Benchmark CME August live cattle futures settled up 1.025 cents at 211.675 cents per pound. The thinly traded June contract finished up 1.050 cents at 224.300 cents per pound, but remained below last week's peak of 229.125 cents, the highest-ever reading on a continuous chart of the front contract.
CME August feeder cattle futures ended Wednesday up 0.825 cent at 304.175 cents per pound.
Scarce supplies of slaughter-ready cattle continue to support the market.
"The issue all along has been that the show-lists are limited. The feedlots are having trouble finding replacement cattle. So they are turning around and telling the packers, 'This is all we have to show this week,'" said Altin Kalo, head economist at Steiner Consulting Group.
Wholesale beef prices continue to climb. The US Department of Agriculture priced choice cuts of beef at $388.87 per cwt on Wednesday afternoon, up $2.36 from Tuesday and the highest reading since May 2020.
But commodity funds already have a massive net long position in CME live cattle futures, a factor that has muted rallies this week and left the market vulnerable to profit-taking sell-offs.
Ahead of the USDA's monthly Cattle on Feed report due on Friday, analysts surveyed by Reuters, on average, expected the government to report that the number of cattle placed in US feedlots during May fell by 5.9% compared to a year earlier.
CME lean hog futures ended mostly higher. July hogs settled up 0.525 cent at 112.175 cents per pound after posting a contract high at 112.900 cents. August hogs ended up 0.200 cent at 112.000 cents.
Trade was choppy as some market players headed for the sidelines ahead of the Juneteenth holiday on Thursday, when US markets and most government offices will be closed, and amid geopolitical tensions including the six-day-old Israel-Iran air war.
"It's tough to maintain momentum when the market is going to be closed, and all kinds of things are happening with outside markets," Kalo said.
The USDA priced the pork carcass cutout on Wednesday afternoon at $118.28 per hundredweight, down $1.61 from Tuesday's near three-year high of $119.89.
