Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures rose on Wednesday, as a sharp drop in corn futures gave feeder cattle futures a boost and the slaughtering continued to recover following recent disruptions linked to an immigration crackdown, Reuters reported, citing analysts.
Cattle futures have remained relatively range-bound in recent days, as commodity funds have pared some of their long positions amid supply chain concerns, market analysts said.
Meanwhile, feeder cattle have been gaining strength from the cash market, where prices have stayed at a premium to futures prices, said Ross Baldwin, a cattle analyst at John Stewart & Associates.
"But there's been little to no volume of trading in the cash markets right now," Baldwin said.
One of the concerns that livestock traders are focused on is the nation's pace of cattle slaughter.
Meatpackers processed an estimated 98,000 cattle, up from 94,000 head a week earlier, according to US Department of Agriculture data. Yet, the total was below levels seen before the immigration crackdown discouraged meatpacking employees from going to work at major slaughterhouses in southwest Kansas last week.
Processing rates can influence cattle prices by affecting meatpackers' demand. Disruptions can back up cattle in feedlots and threaten cash prices because packers may not need to bid aggressively to make purchases.
CME November feeders settled up 3.400 cents at 334.300 cents per pound, while December live cattle finished up 1.900 cents at 222.700 cents per pound.
Meanwhile, CME December lean hog futures closed down 0.275 cent at 69.425 cents per pound.
Boxed beef prices were mixed on Wednesday morning. Choice cuts of boxed beef increased by 1 cent to $382.68 per hundredweight, while select cuts fell $2.41 to $362.07 per cwt, according to the USDA.
The agency separately quoted the wholesale pork carcass cutout at $87.49 per cwt, down 28 cents from Tuesday. Pork bellies fell $2.96 to $96.36 per cwt.
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