Cattle futures ease after highs as cash market holds firm - CME
Hog prices climb despite slump in weekly export sales
18 July 2025
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures backpedaled on Thursday after climbing to contract highs during the previous session, while hog futures jumped, reported Reuters.
Traders projected the cattle market's setback would be short lived as futures remain too low compared to cash prices.
Futures and cash prices have set records this year as U.S. cattle inventories have dwindled to their lowest levels in decades. Meatpackers, such as Tyson Foods, increasingly must compete to buy limited supplies of cattle from farmers to process into beef.
CME August live cattle futures finished down 0.225 cent at 223.675 cents per pound after setting a contract high of 224.400 cents on Wednesday.
CME August feeder cattle futures closed 0.575 cent lower at 325 cents per pound.
"Every time we see breaks, the market finds support," a broker said. "Futures are way too low versus the cash."
Strong cash prices for cattle and declining beef prices have squeezed meatpackers' profits. They were losing an estimated $174.35 per head of cattle they slaughtered on Thursday, according to HedgersEdge.com.
Light trading of cattle in the cash market this week has been largely steady from last week, when prices climbed, traders said.
"The cash market just doesn't break," the broker said.
In demand news, weekly US beef export sales were 8,800 metric tons for 2025, down 24% from the previous week and 28% from the prior four-week average, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
For pork, weekly US export sales of 17,100 metric tons for 2025 were down 30% from the previous week and 48% from the prior four-week average.
The wholesale US pork carcass cutout price increased $1.58 to $113.32 per hundredweight on Thursday amid higher prices for bellies and loins, according to USDA data.
CME August lean hog futures ended up 1.4 cents at 105.825 cents per pound.
