ABSTRACT
Livestock and meat products are among the most interesting commodities which can be traded on futures markets, although they have a short history by the standards of futures trading in grains. Currently meat complex futures contracts are traded in Chicago, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, and Sao Paulo. Boneless beef was traded for many years in Chicago and New York, and one of many meat contracts which have been attempted in London was a pigmeat contract, denominated in lots of 50 carcasses meeting set quality requirements. In the event, trading in meat complex futures has been extremely successful in the USA; the CME live cattle and live hog futures contracts are among the most actively traded agricultural futures in the world. Because of the dominance of Chicago in meat complex futures, the following discussion concentrates on these markets. Successful trading of meat complex futures rests on the ability to identify and forecast the path of these cycles.
