historic low (3.9c), page-82

Hog Prices Slump as Slaughter Rises, Demand Slows; Cattle Drop

Hog futures declined the most in almost three weeks on signs of increasing U.S. pork supplies and slowing demand. Cattle also fell.
Wholesale pork slumped 1.5 percent to 96.71 cents a pound yesterday, the biggest drop since Aug. 30, government data show. Meatpackers processed 428,000 hogs yesterday, up 2.6 percent from a week earlier, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.
“Everyone is concerned about the numbers,” Chad Henderson, a market analyst at Prime Agricultural Consultants Inc. in Brookfield, Wisconsin, said in a telephone interview. “Slaughter numbers are up significantly. A big concern is we’ve got the weaker-product market to start off the week.”
Hog futures for December settlement fell 0.5 percent to 88.075 cents a pound at 10:15 a.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, heading for the biggest decline for the most-active contract since Aug. 28.
Cattle futures for December delivery slid 0.6 percent to $1.2845 a pound on the CME. The contract was down 4.8 percent this year through yesterday.
Feeder-cattle futures for October settlement dropped 0.8 percent to $1.5815 a pound.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Campbell in Chicago at [email protected]