Chicago live and feeder cattle futures touched record highs Wednesday on strong U.S. beef exports to Japan.
CME live cattle for April delivery settled 2.175 cents higher at 120.550 cents per pound. Earlier in the day they touched 120.800 cents per lb.
March feeder cattle ended up 0.850 cent at 133.550 cents per lb. after touching a record of 133.650.
Shipments of chilled beef to Japan are up, said officials of Smithfield Foods and Tyson Foods according to a report by Reuters.
The choice of chilled rather than frozen indicates Japanese retailers want to quickly refill meat cases that were cleared out by panicked consumers in the wake of the earthquake and nuclear crisis.
There is also a concern that radiation might contaminate Japanese domestic meat production.
Cattle prices were already strong because herds are at 50-year lows after a long period of low prices.
Cash cattle traded Tuesday at $196 per 100 lb. on a dressed basis in Nebraska, up $6 from the previous week. Today, cattle in Kansas and Texas traded at a record $123 per cwt. live, up $7 from last week.
U.S. cash hog prices are also higher. Iowa-southern Minnesota cash hogs delivered to plants were $66 US per cwt. March 30, up from $62 on March 25.
