Cattle Futures Rise on Corn Drop and Slaughtering Recovery

Cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) rose on October 1, as a sharp drop in corn futures boosted feeder cattle futures. This surge was partly due to the recent recovery of slaughtering, which had been impacted by an immigration crackdown.

According to analysts, commodity funds have pared some of their long positions amid supply chain concerns, keeping cattle futures relatively range-bound in recent days.

Ross Baldwin, a cattle analyst at John Stewart & Associates, noted that feeder cattle have been gaining strength from the cash market, where prices have stayed at a premium to futures prices. However, he added that there's been little to no volume of trading in the cash markets right now.

The nation's pace of cattle slaughter remains a concern for livestock traders. On October 1, meatpackers processed an estimated 98,000 cattle, up from 94,000 head a week earlier, according to US Department of Agriculture data. This was below levels seen before the immigration crackdown, which had discouraged meatpacking employees from going to work at major slaughterhouses in southwest Kansas last week.

CME November feeders settled up 3.400 cents at 334.300 cents per pound, while December live cattle finished up 1.900 cents at 222.700 cents per pound.