With demand driving costs higher, meat packers spent another day in the red on Tuesday, losing an estimated $20.00 per head, compared with losses of $20.60 per head on Monday and losses of $10.00 a week ago, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that choice cuts of boxed beef on Tuesday afternoon fell $1.31 to $325.79 per hundredweight (cwt). Select cuts jumped $2.10 to $305.43 per cwt.
CME February lean hogs settled lower for an eighth straight session, losing 0.475 cent at 79.175 cents per pound, hitting their lowest trough since Oct. 3, 2024, at 78.825 cents per pound.
The inventory of pigs for slaughter operations is plentiful, said Roose, while pork demand is lower from the US and overseas, with US hog prices significantly higher than China's.
Click here to see more...