Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures on Tuesday touched their highest prices since October on strong cash prices and expectations that US supplies will remain tight this year, Reuters reported, citing analysts.
Traders projected that Washington will continue to block US imports of Mexican cattle following recent detections of New world screwworm in animals in Mexico. The US has largely blocked imports of Mexican livestock since May 2025 in a bid to keep out the flesh-eating parasite.
"There's ideas that they won't resume anytime soon based on the most recent screwworm cases last week," said Doug Houghton, analyst for Brock Associates.
CME March feeder cattle futures jumped 3.450 cents to end at 359.025 cents per pound and hit the highest level since October 23.
CME February live cattle futures advanced 0.750 cent to 236.625 cents per pound. The contract matched its high from Monday, which was the highest price since October 24.
Cash prices have also been strong to start the year, brokers said.
High prices have hurt profit margins for meatpackers, which must pay more to buy cattle to process into steaks and hamburgers. Packers were losing an estimated $262.60 per head of cattle they slaughtered on Monday and $229.75 per head on Tuesday, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com.
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