Cattle futures hit record highs on tight supply outlook - CME
Hog prices steady as pork cutout gains on belly strength
17 July 2025
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures climbed to contract highs on Wednesday as some traders predicted that cash prices will continue to rise after surging last week, reported Reuters.
Futures and cash prices have set records this year as meatpackers increasingly must compete to buy limited supplies of cattle from farmers to process into beef.
Cattle inventories are at their lowest level in decades after farmers slashed their herds due to a drought that reduced pasture lands used for grazing in recent years.
Futures prices look too low compared to higher cash prices, supporting gains at the CME, traders said.
"The trade does feel we will have higher cash cattle trade," said Rich Nelson, chief strategist for brokerage Allendale.
Increases would extend gains from last week, when cash prices jumped by about $4 to $8 per hundredweight (cwt).
At some sale barns in Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska, cash cattle traded around $252 per cwt this week, Nelson said.
CME August live cattle futures LCQ25 finished up 1.5 cents at 223.900 cents per pound after setting a contract high of 224.400 cents. All other contract months also set highs.
In CME's feeder cattle market, August futures FCQ25 closed 3.3 cents higher at 325.575 cents per pound. Deferred futures contracts set new highs.
Tight cattle supplies encourage commodity funds to take long positions in cattle markets, or bets that prices will rise, a broker said.
"There's nothing scaring the longs out as of yet," he said.
Wholesale boxed beef prices tumbled, with choice cuts dropping by $4.87 to $372.85 percwt, according to USDA data.
The agency on Thursday is slated to issue weekly U.S. export sales data for beef and pork.
CME August lean hog futures LHQ25 ended up 0.5 cent at 104.425 cents per pound.
Hog weights averaged 282.7 pounds in Iowa, southern Minnesota and South Dakota in the week ending on July 12, the USDA said. That was unchanged from a week earlier but down from 284.7 pounds a year ago.
The wholesale U.S. pork carcass cutout price rose $0.72 to $114.74 per cwt, as prices climbed for bellies and dropped for butts, the USDA said.
