Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle dropped for the sixth day in a row on Thursday, with weakness in the cash market that stemmed from a glut of supplies spilling over into futures prices, traders said.
Traders shrugged off signs of rising demand from China, which made its largest weekly U.S. beef purchases on record last week, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data released on Thursday.
USDA, in its weekly export sales report, said China bought a net 3,315 tonnes of U.S. beef in the week ended Aug. 20, the largest weekly buy in records dating back to 1999. China also bought 11,216 tonnes of U.S. pork last week, the most in a month.
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CME benchmark October live cattle ended 0.85 cent lower at 106.15 cents/lb. (all figures US$). The front-month contract hit its lowest on a continuous basis since Aug. 5.
October feeder cattle dropped 0.775 cent at 141.15 cents/lb.
CME October lean hogs rose 0.175 cent to close at 55.725 cents/lb.
USDA said the daily cattle slaughter rose by 1,000 head to 119,000 on Thursday. The hog slaughter was unchanged at 482,000 head.
— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.
