Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell to fresh life-of-contract lows on Friday, extending losses for the third straight session on technical selling tied to weaker trades in cash cattle and wholesale beef markets, traders said. At 9:40 am CDT (1440 GMT) the October contract was down 0.300 cent per pound to 103.275 cents, the lowest since it began trading in April 2015.
The December contract was 0.300 cent lower at 105.100 cents, the weakest since it started trading in June 2015. The front-month live cattle contract on a continuous chart tumbled to the lowest levels since June 2011. Trading limits were expanded to 4.500 cents per lb, after Thursday's limit-down move of 3.000 cents, according to the CME Group. Thursday's choice beef price declined 75 cents to $195.74 per cwt, the lowest since December. Select beef eased $1.22 to $188.49 per cwt, the US Department of Agriculture said.