By P.J. Huffstutter
CHICAGO, Dec 27 (Reuters) – U.S. hog futures rose for the fourth straight trading session on Monday, as the market continued to see support from a government report last week that showed smaller-than-expected national inventory numbers, traders said.
Most-active February hog futures LHG2 settled the day up 0.425 cent at 83.65 cents per pound. Earlier in the session, the contract traded at 84.650 cents per pound, the highest since Nov. 26.
April hogs LHJ2 ended the day up 1.075 cents at 87.725 cents per pound.
Traders said they were focused on last week’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hogs and pigs quarterly report, which said the U.S. hog herd totaled 74.2 million head on Dec. 1, down 4% from a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the herd would be 2.9% smaller.
Investors were paying attention to the U.S. hog inventory, too, which was down 4% from a year earlier according to USDA, Karl Setzer, commodity risk analyst for AgriVisor, said in an analyst note on Monday.
“Data also indicated US hog litters were smaller than a year ago, which could further tighten the US pork supply in future months,” Setzer said.
On Monday, USDA quoted the U.S. pork cutout at $86.33 per hundred weight (cwt), down $5.14 from Thursday.
In the beef markets, cattle futures were mixed on Monday, as traders anticipated steady-to-heavier buying of cash cattle by meat packers this week.
“The packers are buying for a full kill next week,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities. “Just because it’s the holidays, the plants are still running, the grocery stores still need to be stocked and people are still eating.”
CME February live cattle futures LCG2 settled down 0.350 cent at 139.275 cents per pound. CME March feeder cattle FCH2 fell 0.475 cent to 163.275 cents.
(Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
(([email protected]; 313-484-5275 (w); On Twitter @pjhuffstutter; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
www.nasdaq.com