U.S. Cattle Futures Hit New One-Year Lows on Soft Exports, Cash Trade
September 04 2015 - 04:26PM
Dow Jones News
By Kelsey Gee
CHICAGO--U.S. cattle futures extended a weeklong slump Friday,
pressured by worries about demand, reflected by weakening prices
for cattle in the cash markets.
October cattle futures shed 1.125 cents, or 0.8%, to $1.40475 a
pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, down 2.4% from that
contract's closing price last week, and a fresh 15-month low.
Live-cattle futures for December fell 1.1 cents to $1.42775 a
pound.
Feeder-cattle futures for September declined 1.2 cents to
$2.0135 a pound, down 0.5% on the week.
Wholesale-beef prices have edged narrowly lower in the past
week, a potential sign of sluggish demand, which has contributed to
a steep drop in prices packers have been willing to pay in the cash
markets. Beef processors have been reluctant to pay up for cattle
in the negotiated trade.
Friday, an estimated 10,000 head in Nebraska and Colorado were
sold for mostly $1.43 a pound live, down from last week's range of
prices from $1.44 to $1.47 a pound. Around 17,000 head in Kansas
and Texas were also sold for that price, down from last week's
sales from $1.45 to $1.46 a pound.
This follows sales earlier in the week from $1.41 and $1.47 a
pound, which, while in a wide range, reflect the pessimism among
beef processors about the strength of domestic and export
demand.
Exports reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Friday
show a monthslong trend of sluggish beef and pork sales continued
into August.
The export value of U.S. pork, at $443 million for July, was the
lowest monthly total in over four years, and the volume of beef
shipped, at 92,000 metric tons worth $555.7 million, were the
smallest since 2010. The U.S. Meat Export Federation, a nonprofit
industry group, attributes the slowdown, in part, to the strong
dollar, which makes domestic goods more expensive to foreign
buyers. This data also weighed on the livestock markets Friday.
October hog futures declined 0.3 cent to 69.15 cents a pound,
for a 4.1% increase on the week. December futures shed 0.675 cent
to 63.35 cents a pound.
Write to Kelsey Gee at kelsey.gee@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 04, 2015 16:11 ET (20:11 GMT)
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