Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures rose on Thursday on a firmer tone in the cash cattle market, Reuters reported, citing analysts, and lower corn prices earlier in the session.
"Feedlots are still holding out for higher prices," said Doug Houghton, an analyst at Brock Associates. But he said, "the weakness in beef cutout values would certainly be a negative and a concern."
A drop in corn futures earlier in the session also gave feeder cattle futures support, and slaughtering operations continued to recover following recent disruptions linked to an immigration crackdown that affected workers at meatpacking plants, analysts said.
Meatpackers slaughtered an estimated 109,000 cattle on Thursday, up from 90,000 head a week earlier, according to US Department of Agriculture data.
But, an 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 cause back ups on cattle in feedlots and threaten cash prices because packers may not need to bid aggressively to make purchases.
Meatpackers made profits of $126.45 per head of cattle on Thursday, down from $130.65 on Wednesday and $89.55 a week ago.
CME November feeders settled up 2.050 cents at 336.350 cents per pound, while December live cattle finished up 0.475 cent at 223.175 cents per pound.
Meanwhile, CME December lean hog futures closed down 0.500 cent at 68.925 cents per pound.
Boxed beef prices fell on Thursday afternoon. Choice cuts of boxed beef lost $6.00 to $376.79 per hundredweight, while select cuts fell $7.70 to $352.89 per cwt, according to the USDA.
The agency separately quoted the wholesale pork carcass cutout at $85.29 per cwt, down 34 cents from Wednesday. Pork bellies fell $0.54 to $93.43 per cwt.
Houghton said poor pork demand and technical pressure was driving falling lean hog futures.
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