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Hogs Rise to Eight-Month High on Increased Demand; Cattle Gain

By Tony C. Dreibus

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Hogs rose to an eight-month high on speculation that demand for cheap U.S. pork will increase as exports improve. Cattle futures also gained.

Pork exports rose to 390.7 million pounds in February, up 11 percent from January and 57 percent from the same month in 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report on April 10. Wholesale pork has jumped 19 percent since April 1, after touching the lowest price since December 2003. Hog futures still are down 3.7 percent in the past year.

``We had good export numbers in February,'' said David Bauer, president of Brite Futures in Milwaukee. ``We should see good export numbers for March. We had a lot of buying so that will tell us we had a good April.''

Hog futures for June settlement rose 2.35 cents, or 3.3 percent, to 74.275 cents a pound at 11:28 a.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after earlier reaching 74.925 cents, the highest for a most-active contract since Aug. 7.

Wholesale pork rose 2.68 cents, or 4.3 percent, to 65.3 cents a pound yesterday, USDA data show. Prices reached 54.87 cents on April 1.

Cattle prices rose on speculation that demand for beef will increase as temperatures rise in the U.S. and more people buy the meat for grilling outdoors.

Temperatures are expected to reach 74 degrees Fahrenheit (23 Celsius) in parts of Kansas and as high as 79 degrees today in South Dakota, National Weather Service data show.

Cattle futures for June delivery rose 1.25 cents, or 1.4 percent, to 91.35 cents a pound in Chicago. Wholesale beef climbed 1.62 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $1.4745 a pound today, USDA data show. The price has climbed for seven straight days.

Futures still have dropped 6 percent in the past year, partly on lower demand for beef as consumers switched to cheaper pork and chicken.

Feeder-cattle futures for August delivery rose 0.475 cent, or 0.4 percent, to $1.0725 a pound. The price has dropped 5.7 percent in the past year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago