U.S. Hog Futures Fall Sharply on Supply Concerns, Cattle Decline

--Hog futures trim losses after sliding limit-down

--Concerns that supplies could expand weigh on hog futures

--Cattle futures also lower amid selling across the livestock markets

By Kelsey Gee

CHICAGO--U.S. hog futures are falling sharply Thursday, pressured by concerns that supplies of market-ready animals could swell in the months ahead.

October lean hogs are down 2.6 cents to $1.0250 a pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, after earlier in the session sliding by the exchange-imposed daily limit. December hog futures recently shed 2.17 cents to 91.72 cents a pound.

The cheapest feed costs in nearly four years have provided incentive to hog producers to grow animals to near record-heavy weights, adding pork to the market during a time when some industry watchers anticipated a shortfall due to a deadly swine virus.

As hog prices remain historically lofty, margins for producers are expected to encourage some to expand thinned herds, adding further to supplies to processors in the months ahead.

However, industry watchers remain uncertain if the deadly disease porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, or PEDv, will return as temperatures drop across the U.S. Veterinarians have signaled the disease typically spreads more rapidly in colder weather. This uncertainty has led to wide swings in hog prices over the past week.

"The is a market that is starved for information," said Steve Meyer, a meat-industry economist with Paragon Economics Inc. in Des Moines, Iowa. Traders and analysts are closely watching for a federal inventory report of the nation's hog and pig herds next week to provide a clearer supply outlook for the months ahead.

Cattle futures, meanwhile, are facing pressure from selling across the livestock markets.

October live-cattle are down 2.125 cents to $1.5490 a pound. Most-active feeder-cattle futures for October recently slid 1.05 cent to $2.2705 a pound.

Write to Kelsey Gee at [e-mail]

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