CHICAGO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures rose for a fifth consecutive session on Tuesday and the front-month contract reached its highest in 4-1/2-years on a firm cash market and good beef demand.
Cattle prices have been trending higher amid rising imports by China and improved domestic demand as more consumers are returning to restaurants and resuming travel after nearly two years of COVID-19 limits on large gatherings.
Cash cattle bids at southern U.S. Plains feedlot markets rose to $136 per cwt on Tuesday, with only light sales reported at that price, which was up $2 from a week ago. Most sellers passed on the bids and awaited even higher prices.
"Packers are still reaching out, buying aggressively. We still have a few more days of a seasonal move up before we start seeing buyers procure for the early-January low-demand period," said Rich Nelson, chief strategist with Allendale Inc.
CME's most-active February live cattle contract gained 0.450 cent to end at 139.425 cents per pound. Spot December climbed to the highest point for a front-month contract since April 2017 and closed 0.975 cent higher at 135.400 cents per pound.
CME January feeder cattle futures rose 2.675 cents to 164.375 cents per pound.
CME lean hog futures ended mixed as the market weighed strong pork demand against expected larger stocks as the hog slaughter is expected to rise to a seasonal high in the coming weeks.
CME December lean hogs settled 0.500 cent lower at 74.150 cents per pound while February hogs added 0.250 cent to close at 83.275 cents.
(Reporting by Karl Plume; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
