CHICAGO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed higher on Thursday on continued buying interest tied to the recent bullish quarterly hog report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), traders said.
CME October lean hogs settled up 0.800 cent at 91.600 cents per lb, while the most-active December contract rose 1.800 cents to settle at 85.400 cents, its highest since July 27.
Hog futures have soared in recent days, after the USDA on Friday reported that the U.S. Sept. 1 hog inventory and the June-to-August pig crop fell below trade expectations.
Still, traders are keeping a close eye on reported cases of the fatal pig virus African swine fever (ASF) outside of the United States, said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities in West Des Moines, Iowa.
This week, the USDA pledged up to $500 million to prevent the spread of ASF in the country, after Haiti and the Dominican Republic recently confirmed outbreaks. A U.S. outbreak would likely slash American pork exports and pig prices, hurting farmers and meat companies such as Tyson Foods Inc.
Cattle futures ended lower. CME October live cattle settled down 1.200 cents at 120.575 cents per lb, and benchmark December fell 1.325 cents to end at 125.725 cents.
CME November feeder cattle settled down 2.375 cents at 152.900 cents per lb. (Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
