CHICAGO, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures set life-of-contract lows on Monday as plentiful supplies and weak demand continued to weigh on prices.
The market has tumbled since July because of poor cash prices for hogs and slumping wholesale pork prices, analysts said. Futures are oversold due to the losses, though it is not clear when they will begin to recover, they said.
CME December lean hog futures ended down 0.70 cent at 58.175 cents per pound and set a contract low of 57.775 cents. April 2027 futures also set a contract low.
Analysts said domestic and export demand for pork was struggling. China, the world’s biggest pork consumer, is grappling with an oversupply of hogs that is hurting US pork exports.
“It’s hard for them to import pork from the US or from most suppliers and turn a profit on it, with so much low-priced domestic product in the market,” said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the industry group US Meat Export Federation.
US beef also still faces regulatory barriers for export to China, despite Beijing renewing export licences in May for more than 400 US beef plants.
In the US cattle market, CME December live cattle futures closed down 1.250 cents at 219.700 cents per pound and touched the lowest price since October 5. January feeder cattle futures finished up 0.900 cent at 332.675 cents per pound after falling earlier to the lowest price since October 9.
Cattle traded in the cash market on Friday fell to between $224 and $225 in the southern US, down about $5 to $6 from a week earlier, brokers said.
In other news, the USDA confirmed bird flu in dairy cattle in Indiana, marking the state’s first reported case.
In Washington state a person with underlying health conditions died after contracting bird flu following exposure at a dairy, according to the Yakima Health District in Yakima, Washington. The risk of infection to the general public is low, officials said.
“We are heartbroken to lose a member in our farm working community,” the Washington State Department of Agriculture said.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Perla Velasco)
