Cattle futures slump on profit-taking, demand concerns - CME
Hog prices dip after contract highs despite pork cutout gains
18 June 2025
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures tumbled on Tuesday on profit-taking after last week's all-time highs and on fears that rising crude oil prices could dent consumer demand for meat, while wholesale beef prices continued to set fresh five-year highs, reported Reuters.
Most-active August live cattle futures settled down 4.900 cents at 210.650 cents per pound. The thinly traded June contract finished down 3.775 cents at 223.250 cents per pound after reaching 229.125 cents last week, the highest-ever reading on a continuous chart of the front contract.
CME August feeder cattle futures tumbled 6.875 cents to finish at 303.350 cents per pound.
Market bulls noted that the spot June live cattle futures contract was still at a significant discount to the cash market, after slaughter-ready cattle traded last week at $235 per hundredweight in Texas and Kansas. Traders said cash cattle offers were around $238 so far this week in the southern Plains but bids were unquoted.
Stronger cash cattle prices could pull futures higher. But others noted that commodity funds already have a massive net long position in CME live cattle futures, leaving the market vulnerable to selloffs.
"There is a real fear that the cash cattle market is topping out, and the beef is topping out. Funds are huge longs in the cattle market, so you are seeing liquidation despite the positive (trend) in the cash and the boxed beef," said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based US Commodities.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) priced choice cuts of beef at $386.51 per cwt on Tuesday afternoon, up $4.40 from Monday and the highest reading since May 2020.
Meanwhile, US immigration officials walked back limits on enforcement targeting farms, restaurants and food processing plants just days after putting restrictions in place, two former officials said. Some traders worry that a slowed US slaughter pace could back up supplies of market-ready animals, pressuring futures.
Ahead of the USDA's monthly Cattle on Feed report due Friday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to report that the number of cattle placed in US feedlots during May fell by 5.9% compared to a year earlier.
CME hog futures closed lower, retreating after climbing to life-of-contract highs at the opening bell.
CME July lean hogs settled down 0.150 cent at 111.650 cents per pound after posting a contract high at 112.500 cents. August hogs ended down 0.875 cent at 111.800 cents after reaching 113.375 cents.
The USDA priced the pork carcass cutout on Tuesday afternoon at $119.89 per hundredweight, up 41 cents from Monday and the highest reading since August 2022.
