By Kirk Maltais

The USDA reported Friday that U.S. cattle inventories grew through Aug. 1 versus the same month last year, more than expected by analysts.

In its monthly Cattle on Feed Report, the USDA said that total supplies of cattle on feedlots were 11.2 million head, up 150,000 head from the same time last year. The uptick roughly fell in line with analyst predictions, with those surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecasting inventories to rise by 0.8 percentage point as of Aug. 1 versus the same time last year.

Meanwhile, placements of cattle sped up, totaling 1.77 million head logged through July. That is a 2% increase from the same time last year. Analysts were forecasting this figure to slide by 1.2 percentage points.

Marketings fell back, totaling 1.83 million head, down 4% from the same time last year. This decline was steeper than analyst expectations, with analysts forecasting a 3.1 percentage point drop.

Livestock futures trading on the CME closed trading Friday mixed. The most-active cattle contract rose 0.4% to $1.45 per pound, while the most-active lean hogs contract fell 0.2% to 96.125 cents per pound.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 19, 2022 15:29 ET (19:29 GMT)

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