Commodities : Tuesday, Sept. 1, 1987 : Cattle Futures Prices Retreat

Cattle futures retreated Tuesday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as hopes vanished that Japan would import more beef from the United States because of potentially contaminated Australian meat.

Hog futures moved higher, while pork bellies were mostly lower.

“There was a lot of profit-taking in cattle on yesterday’s runup,” said Philip Stanley, an analyst in Chicago with Thomson McKinnon Securities Inc.

Prices bounced higher Monday because of rumor that Japan was sufficiently concerned about findings of pesticide contamination in Australian beef to shift some of its business to the United States.

“But this rumor was kind of quashed last night, when officials of Australia, Japan and America all said Japan would continue to buy Australian beef once it was inspected and properly passed,” said Stanley.

The market also is concerned about rather large feedlot sales of cattle continuing through September and into October, he said.