Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) livestock futures were mixed on Wednesday, with lean hogs turning lower and cattle futures getting a technical bump in prices from short-covering after this week's earlier selloff, Reuters reported, citing market analysts.
Live cattle and feeder cattle futures tumbled on Monday after the US Department of Agriculture announced it was lifting a ban on imports of Mexican cattle.
The USDA halted imports more than a year ago to keep out the flesh-eating livestock pest New World screwworm, tightening US cattle supplies and helping to drive beef prices to record highs.
By Wednesday, that initial reaction had worn off and traders realized that it would take time to return the flow of cattle crossing the border to pre-halt levels, said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag Marketing.
"Even with feeder imports starting to trickle in next month, the US cattle inventory will remain tight for months to come," Setzer said.
Lean hog futures turned lower on technical profit-taking and lagging consumer pork demand, market analysts said. The USDA priced the pork carcass cutout at $101.78 per hundredweight (cwt), down $2.13, on Wednesday afternoon.
"There are signs of demand being down, even with smaller slaughter rates and fewer hogs being processed," said Dan Norcini, an independent trader. Norcini noted that some of the pricing pressure could be part of a normal seasonal pattern, "when these hog and pork prices tend to start to set back this time of year."
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