Hog prices may rebound from the biggest monthly loss since October as consumers switch from beef to cheaper pork, according to Karl Skold, an economist and the former head of commodity procurement for ConAgra Foods Inc.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows that cattle futures are trading near the highest level relative to hogs in nine months. Hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which touched a seven-month low of 82.45 cents a pound yesterday, may rally to 87 cents by the end of the year as demand climbs, Skold said.
“Into the fall, we’ll have good demand for pork products,” Skold said in a telephone interview from Omaha, Nebraska. “They’re going to be favorably priced to beef.”
Demand for pork will also rise through the end of the year as consumers favor the meat over beef for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and hams will be a “good value,” Skold said. Retail prices for boneless ham have dropped 0.6 percent in the past year, while boneless-sirloin steak is up 6.7 percent from a year earlier, government data show
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