Beef futures hit new highs on tight provide, sturdy demand
8 August 2025
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Chicago Mercantile Trade (CME) dwell and feeder cattle futures hit contract highs for the second day in a row on Thursday as sturdy money cattle costs and resilient shopper demand continued to gasoline a rally, Reuters reported, citing analysts.
As money costs have continued to soar, futures have needed to improve to maintain tempo. A scarce provide of cattle and powerful shopper demand for beef have contributed to larger cattle costs.
“We have been on this regular upward pattern they usually’re always having to regulate what expectations are. Because the market does not break, they readjust accordingly. That is been the story for a number of months,” Altin Kalo, economist at Steiner Consulting, stated.
CME October dwell cattle futures LCV25 ended 2.575 cents larger to 232.225 cents per pound. September feeder futures FCU25 rose 5.4 cents to finish at 349.625 cents per pound. October hogs LHV25 ended 1.05 cents decrease at 90.925 cents per pound.
In the meantime, a rally in wholesale beef costs has continued as meatpackers decreased slaughter charges. Packers are searching for to cut back losses as margins stay deep within the purple.
The selection boxed beef cutout jumped $3.41 to $378.27 per cwt, whereas the choose cutout rose $2.18 to $353.54 per cwt, in line with U.S. Division of Agriculture information on Wednesday afternoon.
Although a tight cattle provide has boosted money cattle costs, in main U.S. livestock areas, some ranchers have slowly begun taking the primary steps to spice up cattle manufacturing after the nation’s stock shrank attributable to a years-long drought that dried up pasture land used for grazing and hiked feeding prices.
Although in its early phases, the herd enlargement is now an indication of hope for shoppers shelling out for costly steaks and for meatpackers shedding cash shopping for high-priced cattle to slaughter.
