FX.co ★ Cattle review for August 12, 2011

Futures on cattle grew on Friday amid abruptly soaring cash prices after publication of government report.
By the end of CME trades August futures on cattle gained 1.45 cent (1.2%) and constituted USD 1.179 dollars per pound. October futures became 1.37 cent (1.6%) more expensive and equaled 89.47 cent per pound. August futures on well-fed livestock grew by 0.9% to USD 1.3585 dollars per pound.
On Thursday the US Agriculture Department published two reports that supported the market on Friday. Both reports were suggestive of shrinking meat reserves in 2011 and 2012 in combination with increasing domestic and foreign demand. On Friday the report showed that the export demand for American beef grew by 25%, the volume of pork exported to China increased by 81% as compared to the previous year. The reason for this is that the Celestial Empire keeps on fighting growing prices.
By the end of the working week trades on the cash market were calm in comparison to Thursday. In general, cash prices for meat rose by 2.5-7 cent by the end of the week.
Sales were held for USD 1.15-1.17 per pound in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas which is 3-4 cent higher as compared to the previous week.