By Kirk Maltais
The Agriculture Department said U.S. cattle inventories on feed for the month ended Jan. 1 increased versus the previous year, but were slightly below analyst expectations.
Total supplies of cattle on feedlots were 11.93 million head, which is 2% higher than this time the prior year, the USDA said in its monthly Cattle on Feed Report. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal prior to the report expected the inventories to rise 2.2% versus this time last year.
Placements of cattle on feed rose more than forecast by analysts, with USDA reporting 1.7 million head through Jan. 1, which is 4% lower than this time last year. The drop is less than expected by analysts, who were forecasting a 4.6% decline in placements.
The USDA reported fed cattle marketed for the month ended Jan. 1 totaled 1.725 million head, which is down 1% from last year's total. This is a little more of a drop than forecast by analysts, who were calling for a 0.8% drop in marketings.
The most-active cattle contract trading on the CME closed Friday's trading session down 0.3% to $1.77050 a pound. Lean hog futures finished down 0.5% at 70.775 cents a pound.
To see related data, search "USDA Monthly Cattle on Feed Data" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-19-24 1539ET
