U.S. ranchers in April probably sold the most cattle to feedlots since 2003 after drought ravaged pastures in Texas and Kansas, signaling more beef supplies and lower costs for meat processors including Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN)
Feedlot operators probably bought of 1.704 million head of cattle last month, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier, according to a Bloomberg survey. That would mark the highest so-called placement for April in eight years, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The agency will report inventories at 3 p.m. today in Washington. Texas is the leading U.S. cattle producer, followed by Kansas.
Cattle futures, down 11 percent from an all-time high of $1.21625 on April 4, may fall an additional 7.3 percent to $1 a pound in the next 30 to 60 days, said Troy Vetterkind, the owner of Vetterkind Cattle Brokerage. That may ease costs for processors and retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) that have passed along higher meat prices to consumers.
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