Chicago's bouyant live cattle prices notched up a contract high on Monday, if falling short of hitting the 100-cents-a-pound mark, after data showed a fall of more than 300,000 head in the number of cattle placed on US feedlots.

Hog prices also rise, lifted by the highest pork prices for more than a decade.

The US Department of Agriculture said that the number of cattle on US feedlots hit 9.87m head as of the start of the month, a rise of 2.5% year on year.

The data received a mixed welcome from analysts, with broker US Commodities saying that the overall data "held no big surprises and is therefore neutral to slightly negative".

However, Jon Michalscheck, at rival Benson Quinn Commodities, said that detail showing a 5.9% fall in the number of placements of animals on feedlots in July showed "still does not appear to be any real growth taking place" in the sector.

And Mike Mawdsley at Market 1 noted that wholesale beef prices "were sharply higher again Friday afternoon". They also made further gains on Monday.

'Demand should improve' 

A rise in cattle prices, which rose more than 5% in Chicago last week, reflects a surge in the price of beef, attributed to a rush by packers such as JBS, National Beef and Tyson to meet demand for barbecues around the Labor Day holiday on September 6.

Live cattle for August closed up a further 0.2% higher at 99.90 cents a pound in Chicago on Monday, if failing short of the 100 cent mark reached in April.

Nonetheless, Jerry Stowell at Country Futures said he remained "bullish" on cattle saying that "demand should improve as we move into the fall, and we expect numbers to tighten".

Bull points 

Lean hogs were also higher in Chicago, helped data on Friday showing wholesale pork values at $94.49 a hundredweight, a figure US Commodities said was a record.

The broker added that levels of pork in cold storage were "at multi-year lows" at 72% of volumes a year ago.

"Hams are at 36% of year ago levels. The export demand is strong. Packer margins are now the highest in 10 years," the firm said.

Lean hogs for October ended 0.4% higher at 77.50 cents a pound for October delivery.