Hog futures climb for fifth session on technical buying - CME
Beef markets surge on tight cattle supply, strong demand
6 August 2025
2 minute read
By: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live and feeder cattle futures rose on Tuesday on surging boxed beef prices and continued tightness in the US cattle supply, Reuters reported, citing analysts.
Industry experts said strong boxed beef prices continue to be a welcome signal of strong consumer demand for beef, despite troubled equity markets and sinking consumer confidence.
"We've been questioning consumer demand for three years straight, and every time they come through like a superstar," Rich Nelson, strategist at Allendale, said. "Every single thing we look at says consumers are still buying beef."
Tyson executives said during an earnings conference call on Monday that US cattle supplies were still historically tight but that consumer demand for beef remained resilient despite high prices.
The US cattle herd is lingering near a 75-year low after severe drought forced ranchers to cull their herds. Though some ranchers have slowly started rebuilding their herds and retaining female cows for breeding, the rebuild is likely to be slow, analysts said.
The choice boxed beef cutout jumped $4.61 per hundredweight (cwt) on Monday to $370.40 per cwt, while the select cutout rose $4.42 to $346.01 per cwt, according to US Department of Agriculture data on Tuesday morning.
CME October live cattle futures ended 3 cents higher to 227.1 cents per pound. September feeder futures gained 5.1 cents to 339.55 cents per pound.
CME lean hog futures advanced for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, lifted by technical buying.
October hogs ended 1.9 cents higher at 92.80 cents per pound.
