Cattle Rise to Record as U.S. Beef Output Poised to Drop
This article is for subscribers only.
Cattle futures climbed to a record as U.S. beef production is forecast to drop to an 11-year low in 2014 while the improving economy signals increasing meat demand.
U.S. beef output will fall 5.7 percent from 2013 to 24.205 billion pounds (10.98 million metric tons) next year, the lowest since 1993, the Department of Agriculture has forecast. Feedlots added 3.1 percent fewer cattle last month than a year earlier, reducing the total inventory to the second-lowest for Dec. 1 since the USDA started collecting data in 1996, government figures showed on Dec. 20.