--Hog futures trim losses after sliding limit-down
--Concerns that supplies could expand weigh on hog futures
--Cattle futures also lower amid selling across the livestock
markets
By Kelsey Gee
CHICAGO--U.S. hog futures are falling sharply Thursday,
pressured by concerns that supplies of market-ready animals could
swell in the months ahead.
October lean hogs are down 2.6 cents to $1.0250 a pound at the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after earlier in the session sliding
by the exchange-imposed daily limit. December hog futures recently
shed 2.17 cents to 91.72 cents a pound.
The cheapest feed costs in nearly four years have provided
incentive to hog producers to grow animals to near record-heavy
weights, adding pork to the market during a time when some industry
watchers anticipated a shortfall due to a deadly swine virus.
As hog prices remain historically lofty, margins for producers
are expected to encourage some to expand thinned herds, adding
further to supplies to processors in the months ahead.
However, industry watchers remain uncertain if the deadly
disease porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, or PEDv, will return as
temperatures drop across the U.S. Veterinarians have signaled the
disease typically spreads more rapidly in colder weather. This
uncertainty has led to wide swings in hog prices over the past
week.
"The is a market that is starved for information," said Steve
Meyer, a meat-industry economist with Paragon Economics Inc. in Des
Moines, Iowa. Traders and analysts are closely watching for a
federal inventory report of the nation's hog and pig herds next
week to provide a clearer supply outlook for the months ahead.
Cattle futures, meanwhile, are facing pressure from selling
across the livestock markets.
October live-cattle are down 2.125 cents to $1.5490 a pound.
Most-active feeder-cattle futures for October recently slid 1.05
cent to $2.2705 a pound.
Write to Kelsey Gee at kelsey.gee@wsj.com
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