Cattle futures rose to an eight-week high on signs that U.S. meat processors are paying more for animals as profit gains. Hog prices jumped the most since April.
Slaughterhouses paid 93 cents a pound on average for steers for immediate delivery this week, up 1.3 percent from a week earlier and 12 percent more than a year earlier, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. Processors including Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc. boosted beef sales in the first two days of the week to 14.69 million pounds (6,663 metric tons), up 12 percent from a year earlier, according to the USDA.
“Demand is stronger than the trade thought it was going to be through the middle of the summer,” said Don Roose, the president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines, Iowa. “The packers have been keeping a profitable margin and will continue to have some very good profit.”
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