Hog futures fell to the lowest level in almost three weeks on speculation that U.S. retail pork demand is slowing after wholesale prices climbed to an all-time high. Cattle gained.
Wholesale pork fell to 91.23 cents a pound yesterday, down 5.7 percent from the record 96.74 cents on Aug. 24, government data show. Supplies of the meat had dwindled and grocers stocked up before the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 6, when many people grill outdoors. Meatpackers processed 1.221 million hogs in the first three days of this week, or 6 percent less than a year earlier.
Pork was “at record levels, so it’s going to have to soften up to get some movement going,” said Chad Henderson, a market analyst at Prime Agricultural Consultants Inc. in Brookfield, Wisconsin. “Packers have great margins, but if they think they’re going to struggle to move product, they won’t keep it higher” in price, he said.
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