-5- 



' J|| already discounted usual seasonal movements. Wednesday, egg futures 

 reached their highest point since 1930, and fresh egg prices reached 

 a level unequalled in the month of November during the past 12 years. 

 Egg driers are working day and night to fill large government contracts, 

 presumably for export. The domestic demand is strong and, in spite of 

 the recent very heavy production of eggs, there appears to be some 

 concern about the availability of sufficient supplies of fresh eggs. 

 Foreign shipments of shell eggs during August were about three times 

 as large as in the same month of 194-0, while exports of dried, frozen, 

 and other egg products totaled almost 6 million pounds, compared to 

 only 1^ thousand pounds a year earlier. Offsetting this situation, to 

 a slight extent, was the arrival at New York of ^06 thousand cases 

 of Argentina eggs. 



The trend of butter prices, after adjustment for usual 

 seasonal variations, was downward from mid-September until November 1. 

 Wednesday, there was a substantial improvement in prices of butter, 

 based partly upon some talk of the possibility of lend-lease shipments 

 of dairy products to Russia and the disclosure of the fact that exports 

 of manufactured dairy products in August were again unusually heavy. 

 The domestic demand for butter is holding up v/ell, but production has 

 been so heavy that prices have not responded nearly so strongly as for 

 a number of other farm products. For that matter, fats have not been 

 nearly so much in demand for export as proteins, Argentin.e butter is 

 also coming into the United States, although in relatively small 

 quantities. 



Livestock prices . Top prices for cattle remained steady 

 during the past week. Receipts of cattle at 12 principal markets are 

 running about 3 per cent heavier than a year earlier, but the number 

 of calves coming to market is substantially below the number received 



