Cattle futures rose for a second straight session on signs that US beef supplies are shrinking while exports of the meat rebound.

US beef stockpiles were 9.1% smaller on April 30 than a year earlier, the Department of Agriculture said. Feedlot herds were 3.4% smaller on May 1 than a year earlier, as losses last year spurred farmers to cut herds. US beef-export sales surged 66% in the four weeks ended May 13 from a year earlier.

"The cold-storage report certainly showed beef supplies have drawn down steeply, compared to where they've been before," said Mark Schultz, a vice president at Northstar Commodity Investment Co. in Minneapolis.

Cattle futures for August delivery rose 0.15 cent, or 0.2%, to 90.775 cents a pound at 9:45 a.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Prices declined 1.5% last week, the second straight weekly drop. Feeder-cattle futures for August settlement fell 0.75 cent, or 0.7%, to US$1.094 a pound.