Cattle mixed ahead of possible port strike – CME

Lean hogs lower

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed mostly lower on Monday on seasonal pricing pressure, while cattle futures ended mixed as traders waited for updates of a potential labor strike at US ports, Reuters reported, citing analysts.

Any shuttering of ports could make US beef and pork exports less competitive on the global market, analysts said.

For the beef sector, the labor fight is particularly ill-timed, as cattle exports have shown signs of cooling over the past couple weeks, said Don Roose, president of US Commodities.

“The question people are asking is how quickly such a fight would settle, because we’d need it settled pretty darn fast,” Roose said.

US East and Gulf Coast port workers are set to go on strike as soon as Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. ET, with no talks currently scheduled to head off a stoppage threatening to halt container traffic from Maine to Texas and cost the economy billions per day.

The labor contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union representing 45,000 port workers and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group expires late Monday, with negotiations at an impasse over pay.

The dispute could affect availability of a range of goods from bananas and meat to cars and heavy machinery shipped via container, while creating weeks-long backlogs at ports. 

CME December lean hog futures settled down 0.100 cent at 73.275 cents per pound and February hogs ended down 0.125 cent at 77.375 cents.

CME live cattle futures closed higher on Monday. Benchmark December live cattle settled up 0.325 cent at 184.800 cents per pound. CME November feeder cattle futures fell, settling down 0.800 cent at 244.900 cents per pound.

The USDA priced choice cuts of boxed beef on Monday morning at $297.47 per hundredweight (cwt), up 78 cents from Friday. Select cuts also rose $1.18 at $283.26 per cwt.