U.S. lean hogs firm, live cattle ease - CME

Lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) firmed on Thursday, erasing the week's earlier losses as smaller supplies of market-ready hogs offset seasonal pressure, reported Reuters. "Fundamentally, we know we're fairly tight on supplies. We're not getting expansion," said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing. The CME February lean hogs contract added 3.850 cents to 89.200 cents per pound, a 4.5% daily gain. The nearby December hog contract firmed 0.225 cents to 83.125 cents per pound. Processors slaughtered 492,000 hogs, up 9,000 from the same week a year ago. The CME's lean hog index, a two-day weighted average of cash hog prices, fell 32 cents to $83.89 per cwt. Meanwhile, live cattle eased, while feeder cattle climbed for a third consecutive session as analysts expect the US herd to continue to tighten. "We liquidated a lot of cows because of no grass. We also put a lot of heifers in the feed lots," said Brugler. "The really tight supplies in cattle are ...