Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were mostly lower Monday, seeing a modest correction to start the week after rising in early December.
The February live cattle contract lost 0.475 cents per pound at 226.675 cents. Feeder cattle were down 2.875 cents in the March contract at 330.425 cents per pound.
An estimated 600,000 head of cattle were federally inspected for slaughter last week, reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That was down slightly on the week.
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U.S. soybean futures fell below $11 a bushel on Monday for the first time since October on uncertainty over whether China will buy as much U.S. supply as Washington expects and as South American crop weather favored large soy harvests that could begin in about a month, analysts said.
The USDA reported wholesale boxed beef prices were mixed, with choice boxes down $0.30 at $360.90 per hundredweight and select boxes up $1.21 at $348.60/cwt.
Lean hog prices were up 0.125 cents per pound in the February contract at 82.400 cents per pound. The USDA reported federally inspected hog slaughter last week at 2.702 million head, which was up by 98,210 head from the same week a year ago.
