13 January 2025

2 minute read

By: Melanie Epp

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures jumped again on Friday with packers still running into tight supplies as they sought animals for slaughter operations, reported Reuters. 

CME February live cattle futures ended up 1.175 cents at 198.775 cents per pound, reaching their highest since Sept. 22, 2023, while all other contracts hit lifetime highs.

March feeder cattle reached life-of-contract highs for a second day in a row alongside all other contracts before settling up 1.100 cents at 269.400 cents per pound.

Packers around the country were paying ever higher prices for slim supplies of cattle, and then in turn, raising prices for their customers, said Altin Kalo of Steiner Consulting Group.

It will take several years to rebuild an historically small beef cattle herd, Kalo said, suggesting beef prices would remain elevated.

"The longer term trend in beef is probably going to be higher because it's a much more expensive protein and more resource-intensive than others," he said.

Consumer demand remains high for beef despite the rising costs, while beef packers continue to battle poor processing margins.

Beef packers lost an estimated $8.86 per head Friday, compared with losses of $18.60 per head on Thursday and losses of $28.95 a week ago, according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com. LIV/H

CME February lean hogs settled up 0.775 cents at 82.550 cents per pound.

The upswing was driven by a knock-on effect from the high prices in beef, as well as a reaction to stronger pork cutout prices, with pork bellies in particular outperforming expectations.

The US Department of Agriculture reported pork carcasses gained 88 cents to $91.36 per hundredweight, while bellies shot up $4.66 to $137.23.