Cattle prices fall in USA

By Joanna Levin

US cattle prices have fallen following the release of the latest US Government feedlot report, which revealed lower-than-expected marketings.

The Chicago October live cattle futures contract ended at 60.97¢/lb yesterday (Wednesday), down from 62.50¢ last Friday. The Chicago October feeder cattle contract closed at 69.47¢/lb, compared with around 71.25¢/lb last Friday.

Producers have been discouraged from selling fat cattle to the packing houses because of low cash prices paid by packers. The slow slaughter rate is exacerbating the backlog of cattle in feedlot pens.

The oversupply has been partially offset by a 16% annual drop in the number of feeder cattle placed in the feedlots. But the year-on-year number of cattle in Americas feedlots with a capacity of 1000 head was down 1% on 1 September and totalled 9.02 million.