December lean hog futures climb in the US

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures dipped slightly on Friday, while feeder cattle and lean hogs ticked up as traders squared positions prior to the release of the US Department of Agriculture's Cattle on Feed report, after a choppy week of trading, Reuters reported, citing analysts. December live cattle ended down 0.100 cent at 189.150 cents per pound, while November feeder cattle futures settled up 0.050 cent at 248.575 cents per pound. Wholesale pork prices mostly were higher, supporting lean hog futures on the day, as ham and belly cut-out values jumped sharply, the USDA reported Friday morning. CME December lean hog futures rose 1.025 cents to finish at 79.675 cents per pound. Despite ups and downs in cattle futures this week, the beef packing industry was profitable, said Cassie Fish, author of the Beef blog. Choice beef cutout prices moved higher, said Fish, so packers responded by increasing production with a large slaughter. She said packers had also ...