Pork slaughter rises as lean hogs rebound from one-month low - CME

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) feeder cattle futures extended gains to record highs on Wednesday while live cattle futures set a contract high before pulling back, reported Reuters.

Strong demand for US beef and tight domestic supplies of cattle continued to underpin the markets.

Recent gains have stoked expectations that cash prices will rise this week, traders said, after many had recently been expecting a decline.

CME August live cattle futures reached a contract high of 220.800 cents per pound before backpedaling to close down 0.2 cent at 219.775 cents per pound.

August feeder cattle ended up 1.35 cents at 320.475 cents per pound and earlier set a contract high at 321 cents. That was a record for a front-month contract on a continuation chart.

US wholesale boxed beef prices tumbled after jumping on Tuesday. Choice cuts dropped by $6.59 to $386.45 per hundredweight (cwt), according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data.

After trading ended, President Donald Trump said his administration will charge Brazil with a 50% tariff on products sent to the United States starting on August 1.

The United States has increasingly relied on imports of lean beef from Brazil and other nations to make hamburgers as the US cattle herd has dwindled to its smallest size in decades. Beef imports from Brazil rose 119% to 175,063 metric tons from January to May, compared to a year earlier, according to the latest available USDA data.

US beef production has declined and prices have climbed after years of drought reduced the amount of grazing land available for cattle, prompting farmers to slash their herds.