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Ranchers.net

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Friday's U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly

inventory of cattle in the nation's largest feedlots confirmed expectations for

heavy summer slaughter-ready live cattle supplies, which caused lower cash

quotes late Friday and prompted opening Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle

futures price projections of, mostly, 40-60 points lower early Monday.



March placements came in near the high end of analysts' estimates, while

March marketings matched the lowest projection. The monthly inventory of cattle

in the nation's largest feedlots showed a fourth straight monthly record-high

April 1 cattle-on-feed figure for the current data series going back to 1996.



"I don't know how anxious people will be to sell at prices much more than 50

points below here, when futures are already trading a discount," said one

trader with cash connections.



On the export front, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is planning to begin

the next phase of the drawn-out process of re-opening the Japanese beef market

by starting an audit next week of U.S. beef-producing plants seeking to export

to Japan, USDA officials said Friday.



The following estimates, as compiled by Dow Jones Newswires for the nation's

feedyards with a capacity of 1,000 or more head, are in percentages of the

year-earlier figure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture report was released

Friday afternoon.





USDA Average Range

of estimates of estimates

On-feed April 1 109.0 108.2 106.5-110.0

Placed in March 105.0 102.7 98.6-106.1

Marketed in March 100.0 101.3 100.0-104.0



Note: USDA rounds its estimates to the nearest whole number.





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