USDA to probe beef market after Tyson Foods slaughterhouse fire

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue ordered an investigation into widening prices between cattle and beef on Wednesday after a recent fire at a Tyson Foods Inc slaughterhouse in Holcomb, Kansas, shut the plant. Cattle prices have tanked because the fire temporarily eliminated a key buyer of livestock. Farmers have worried that meat packers such as Tyson, Cargill Inc [CARG.UL] and JBS USA [JBS.UL] would take advantage of the situation by dropping their offering prices. At the same time, beef prices climbed as buyers for restaurants, food service companies and grocery chains scrambled for meat. Profit margins for the packers are above $400 per head of cattle slaughtered, up from around $150 before the fire and well above the previous record of $308, according to Denver-based livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com.