CME lean hog futures firm on wholesale prices
By Renee Hickman
CHICAGO, May 30 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures rallied on Friday after a big jump in wholesale values, according to analysts.
Most actively traded CME July lean hog futures rose 1.950 cents to settle at 104.925 cents per pound.
August feeder cattle ended down 1.100 cents at 298.825 cents per pound. August live cattle lost 0.725 cent to finish at 209.350 cents per pound.
Lean hog futures drew support from pork belly prices climbing, said Doug Houghton, an analyst and editor at Brock Associates. Technical buying also added support, Houghton said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported pork bellies rose $6.94 to $157.10 per hundredweight (cwt) on Friday afternoon. Pork carcasses rose $2.60 to $107.22 per cwt.
The CME's Lean Hog Index, a two-day weighted average of cash prices, was up 0.61 cent at 94.13 cents per pound.
Houghton said that in cattle, "The market had this big drop two weeks ago, and it's kind of gradually climbing its way back, but it didn't finish very well today."
Cash prices continued to be strong and futures were discounted to the cash prices, Houghton said.
Market-ready cattle traded in Texas at $223 per hundredweight (cwt), and in Kansas at $222 per hundredweight, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up $1 to $3 from last week. But, large speculators hold a sizable net long positions in CME live cattle futures, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of long liquidation.
Beefpackers averaged losses of $98.45 per head compared to losses of $112.10 per head, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com. The USDA priced choice cuts of boxed beef at $366.34 per cwt on Friday afternoon, up 25 cents from Thursday, while select cuts were up $3.01 at $356.65.
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