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U.S. meat packers Smithfield Foods Inc and Cargill Inc said they will change the methods they use to determine what price to pay for hogs on Monday because of the partial U.S. government shutdown.
The companies typically use data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service to determine the cash value for hogs. However, USDA market prices have been suspended due to the government shutdown that began on Oct. 1.
Smithfield, the largest U.S. pork packer, said in a letter to producers on Friday that it will begin using CME Group Inc data to price hogs. CME owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where livestock contracts are traded.
Cargill, the third largest U.S. meat processor, told producers in a letter on Friday that it will use price data from private firm Urner Barry to price hogs starting on Monday. Urner Barry is closely followed by livestock packers and traders for its meat prices and data.
Saturday October 5, 2013/ Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/
