Cattle Futures Prices Lower

Cattle futures prices were lower Monday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in spite of a new report that showed greater-than-expected cattle sales in the third quarter.

Prices opened higher, partly in response to the Agriculture Department’s report Friday on the number of cattle on feed in the 13 major beef producing states, analysts said.

The report disclosed that marketings in the third quarter were 8% greater than last year year, a number that exceeded expectations.

Further, said Tom Morgan, a livestock analyst in Chicago with Heinold Commodities, the number of cattle that have been on feed for 90 days or more was at a record low.

However, commercial operators were major sellers in the cattle pit, Morgan said, as beef carcasses and boxed beef cuts were under pressure on wholesale cash markets.

Pork bellies came under pressure from another government report that disclosed higher frozen inventories of stored bellies than were expected, Morgan said. The pressure in the belly pit also spilled into the hog pit, pushing those prices lower as well.