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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