Hog futures fall as China glut pressures prices - CME

Oct 13, 2025

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) feeder cattle futures rallied on Thursday to a record high on strong cash market prices and tight supplies linked to the US suspension of Mexican imports due to the spread of screwworm south of the border, reported Reuters.

Live cattle followed feeders higher, posting new contract highs in deferred contract months, although gains were limited by weaker cash beef prices and poor packer margins.

Beef export concerns also restrained gains in live cattle following data showing record Brazilian beef shipments to China, the fourth-largest importer of US beef last year. China has halted most US agricultural imports amid trade tensions with Washington.

"Tight inventory levels continue to support feeder cattle, as is the lack of a negative impact from the announcement of a vaccine for New World Screwworm. This weighed heavily on feeder cattle when announced but has since lost its impact as imports from Mexico remain suspended," said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Consulting.

Benchmark CME November feeder cattle settled 5.225 cents higher at 374.050 cents per pound. The lightly traded spot October contract peaked at 375.150 cents per pound, the highest level on record for a front-month contract.

CME December live cattle rose 1.025 cents to end at 239.900 cents per pound.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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