February lean hogs settle down - CME

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) feeder cattle futures reached life-of-contract highs, while live cattle futures hit multi-month peaks on Thursday, as meat packers struggled to find inventory, Reuters reported, citing analysts. 

CME March feeder cattle settled up 3.225 cents at 266.200 cents per pound, and all other contracts except January also reached lifetime highs.

February live cattle futures ended up 2.000 cents at 193.600 cents per pound, having earlier reached their highest level since March 21.

Beef packers are having significant problems finding enough animals to cover their production schedules for the next week, said Cassie Fish, analyst and author of online newsletter theBeef.

"The last two weeks, they have failed to buy very many cattle and they are in a dire situation," Fish said.

"The cattle feeder is an unwilling seller, and so they have all the leverage right now," she added.

Meatpackers were in the red again on Thursday, losing an estimated $22.45 per head, compared with losses of $10.00 per head on Tuesday and losses of $69.95 a week ago, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com. 

USDA reported choice cuts of boxed beef on Thursday afternoon fell 74 cents to $323.48 per cwt, after peaking at the highest in nearly six months to start the week. Select cuts fell 29 cents to $294.23 per cwt, just below this week's two-month high.

CME February lean hogs  settled down 0.150 cent at 81.150 cents per pound, having reached lows of 80.000 cents per pound for a second session in a row, the lowest price since Oct. 16.

The CME lean hog index price for the two days ending Dec. 30 was $84.27 and for the two days ending Dec. 27 was $84.35.

USDA reported the pork carcass cutout value on Thursday afternoon fell 98 cents to $89.32 per cwt.