CHICAGO, April 1 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures plunged on Monday on market uncertainty following news of a human case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with infected dairy cows.
Texas and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday reported the case after the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week said milk samples collected from sick cattle in Kansas and Texas tested positive for avian flu.
Although authorities insisted that food supplies are safe, livestock traders worried about reduced demand from fearful consumers, potential drastic actions to control further spread within the herd or knee-jerk restrictions on trade.
"You had speculators running for the doors fearing this uncertainty, not knowing what to do," said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist for the Zaner Group.
CME June live cattle plunged 4.925 cents to 175.325 cents per pound, while May feeder cattle tumbled 6.025 cents to 242.675 cents per pound. Both benchmark contracts broke through key technical support at their 100-day moving averages and closed at their lowest levels in more than two months.
Lean hog futures closed higher on Monday on speculation that any negative impacts from bird flu on cattle markets would translate to stronger demand for pork products.
Most contracts including the actively traded June lean hogs reached new life-of-contract highs.
"The cattle market's pain turned into the hog market's gain," said Sterling Smith, director of ag research at AgriSompo.
CME June lean hog futures jumped 2.050 cents to 103.500 cents per pound after hitting a contract high of 104.250 cents. (Reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
