LIVESTOCK-Rally in US cash market sends CME cattle futures soaring

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, April 29 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures surged to fresh contract highs on Tuesday, as cash prices remained elevated and beef supplies limited going into the U.S. grilling season, market analysts said.

Meanwhile, CME lean hog contracts turned lower for a second consecutive session on a flurry of spread trading, where market participants and some funds opted to sell off hogs in favor of cattle, said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities.

"Right now, the futures prices are being limited by the cash market, which is still well below the futures prices we're seeing for summer hogs," Roose said. "Until those cash prices start to go up, there's only so much the futures market will and can do."

But the cash cattle market has been rallying - with offers expecting to continue to rise this week and possible into next, Roose said.

U.S. producers have been able to command steep prices after slashing their herds due to a drought that reduced pasture lands available for grazing. The tight inventory forces beef processors to compete and pay more to buy cattle to slaughter for steaks and hamburger meat.

In the wholesale beef market, choice cuts of boxed beef rose $3.42 to $346.19 per hundredweight (cwt) on Tuesday morning, while select cuts eased down 31 cents to $324.81 per cwt, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But beef processors were losing an estimated $100.05 per head of cattle they slaughtered on Tuesday, marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com said.

"The air is getting pretty thin up there, so it's going to be a question of who is going to keep buying beef at these prices," Roose said.

CME June live cattle futures LCM25 settled up 0.600-cent at 210.200 cents per pound. August feeder cattle futures FCQ25 closed 1.95 cents higher at 296.900 cents per pound.

In CME's lean hog market, June futures LHM25 slipped 1.55 cents to 99.45 cents per pound.