CHICAGO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Cattle futures climbed to multi-month highs at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday on concerns about tightening supplies and as the market recovered from declines earlier this week, analysts said.
The U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest level in more than seven decades after drought in recent years reduced the amount of pasture for grazing.
Big speculators are eager to establish long positions in the markets because recent U.S. government reports have confirmed the tightness in supplies, said Dan Norcini, an independent livestock trader.
Meatpackers are slowing the pace of cattle slaughtering because they are losing money processing limited inventories into beef, traders said, adding that this reduction kept a lid on the cash market.
"My bias is cash will still work higher as we move through this month and the coming months," said Ross Baldwin, hedge strategist for AgMarket.net.
April live cattle futures closed up 1.95 cents at 187.550 cents per pound, hitting the highest level since Nov. 3.
March feeder cattle rallied 3.925 cents to end at 251.025 cents per pound and reached the highest level since Oct. 19.
"It was a very strong recovery in the past two trading sessions after we had a healthy correction across the markets to start the week," Baldwin said.
Next week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is slated to issue monthly Cattle on Feed data and a separate report on frozen meat supplies in cold storage facilities.
After trading ended on Friday, the USDA said in an email that it published incorrect data on Thursday that showed large increases in weekly U.S. pork export sales and shipments. The data will be updated next week, the USDA said.
A strong U.S. pork export sales report drove CME lean hog futures on Thursday to their highest level since the market hit a four-month high on Jan. 30.
CME April hogs settled up 0.225 cent at 85.225 cents per pound on Friday, but remained below Thursday's high. (Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Alan Barona)
