CHICAGO, May 22 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures rallied on Wednesday amid expectations of strength in the cash markets, while lean hog futures faced continued pressure from data showing that U.S. packers are processing a glut of pork, analysts said.
Traders were still crunching through the latest government data on hog production, which shows pork processors have slaughtered about 50.6 million hogs so far this year, up from 50.3 million last year.
On Wednesday, meat processors butchered about 484,000 hogs - 4,000 more animals than a week ago and up from 469,758 a year ago, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
In the cattle markets, traders said prices in the cash market are expected to stay firm as packer margins finally fall back into the black and prompt buying activity. But reduced plant schedules ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend are expected to keep a cap on buying demand, they said.
CME June hog futures ended down 1 cent at 95.400 cents per pound, after falling to their lowest price since Feb. 14.
CME June live cattle closed 1.2 cents higher at 184.175 cents per pound. August feeder cattle rose 3.075 cents to settle at 262.900 cents per pound. (Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Alan Barona)
