CHICAGO, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) closed lower on Monday as technically driven selling and declines in Wall Street equities outweighed early support tied to optimism about U.S. pork exports, traders said.
Traders were monitoring an outbreak of African swine fever in Spain, one of the world’s largest pork exporters. The outbreak in wild boar in Barcelona prompted several countries, including major buyer China, on Friday to halt imports of Spanish pork, potentially creating an opportunity for U.S. supplies. However, Spain received confirmation from China on Monday that it can resume pork exports from its other regions.
Spain’s agriculture minister Luis Planas said on Saturday that about one-third of the country’s pork export certificates had been blocked as a result of the outbreak, though no farms had tested positive so far. Pork farms within a 20-km radius of the initial infection site are facing operating and sales restrictions.
CME February lean hog futures settled down 0.700 cent at 80.300 cents per pound, turning down after an early climb to 82.125 cents.
Market players were trying to sort out the impact of the outbreak in Spain, traders said. Technical selling pressured futures to session lows late in the day, they said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture priced pork carcasses on Monday afternoon at $94.79 per hundredweight, up $0.57 from Friday.
Cattle futures ended lower, consolidating after higher closes on Wednesday and Friday. Traders were waiting to see where cash cattle would trade following last week’s cash sales at $215 to $220 per cwt in Kansas and Texas.
CME February live cattle settled down 1.925 cents at 215.925 cents per pound, staying inside Friday’s trading range. January feeder cattle ended down 2.900 cents at 312.075 cents per pound.
The USDA priced choice cuts of beef on Monday afternoon at $368.89 per cwt, up $2.07 from Friday. Select cuts jumped by $6.83 to $357.88 per cwt.
(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago Editing by Matthew Lewis)
