Cattle Futures Fall in Chicago as Slaughter Rates Slow; Hog Prices Rise

(Bloomberg) -- Cattle fell for the first time in
five sessions in Chicago as meatpackers slowed slaughter rates
after overpaying for animals last week in anticipation of rising
overseas demand. Hog futures rose.

Meatpackers such as Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. killed
582,000 head of cattle last week, down 2.7 percent compared with
last year, after paying as much as $5 to $6 a head more than a
week earlier. Feedlots in Nebraska, the biggest cattle-raising
state, sold 94,740 animals to meatpackers last week, a 45 percent
increase from 65,203 head the week before, government data show.


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Cattle Futures Gain as U.S. Exports Indicate Rising Beef Demand; Hogs Fall

(Bloomberg) -- Cattle futures rose for a third
straight session as a weekly export sales report indicated strong
demand for U.S. beef. Hog prices fell.

U.S. exporters reported net sales of 11,300 metric tons of
beef for the week ended June 28, including 1,300 tons for Japan
and South Korea, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. Sales
to those two nations, which had been closed to U.S. beef for much
of the past three years because of mad-cow disease concerns,
indicates longer-term sales growth, said Troy Vetterkind, a
trader at e-Hedger in Chicago.


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Hog Futures Rise as Price Decline Spurs Purchases; Cattle Little Changed

(Bloomberg) -- Hog futures rose for the first time
in four sessions in Chicago as meatpackers increased purchases
after prices fell to the lowest in more than three months.
Cattle were little changed.

Futures fell 6.3 percent in the last two weeks of June on
concerns about growing animal supplies. The government last
week said the nation's hog producers expanded breeding herds
0.9 percent in the three months ended May 31 from the year-
earlier quarter -- more than some analysts expected -- as corn
costs held steady and profit improved.


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Hog Prices Decline as Report Spurs Concerns About Oversupply; Cattle Fall

(Bloomberg) -- Hog futures in Chicago fell to the
lowest in almost four months on concern there may be an
oversupply of pigs after a government report showed a larger
U.S. breeding herd. Cattle prices were little changed.

U.S. hog producers expanded their herds by 0.9 percent in
the three months ended May 31, the Department of Agriculture
reported last week, as corn costs steadied and profit improved.
The nation's 65,000 hog producers were holding back an
estimated 6.116 million females for breeding on June 1, up from
6.06 million a year earlier, the USDA said.


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