Pork futures sink amid swine flu fears, pork import bans; Agriculture, beef futures also drop

Pork futures sink; Agriculture futures tumble

CHICAGO — Pork futures sank early Monday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange amid rising concerns surrounding the global swine flu outbreak. Consumers are worried about catching the virus from the pork, analysts said, even as U.S. pork producers maintained that their product is safe and Americans cannot catch the virus while they cook their pork properly.

Multiple countries are increasing their screening of pig products from some U.S. states and Mexico, while China and Russia have issued outright bans on pork from affected areas and Indonesia is blocking all pork imports.

June lean hogs sank 2.85 cents to 68.8 cents a pound, and May pork bellies tumbled 1.9 cents to 79.6 cents a pound.

Meanwhile, agriculture futures also tumbled on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Wheat for July delivery slid 2.25 cents to $5.41 a bushel, while July corn dropped 3.25 cents to $3.825 a bushel and July soybeans tumbled 31 cents to $10.03 a bushel. Oats for May delivery sank 9 cents to $1.8425 a bushel.

Beef futures slipped as well on the Mercantile Exchange..

June live cattle traded down 0.25 cent to 82.35 cents a pound, while May feeder cattle lost 0.42 cent to 98.7 cents a pound.