CHICAGO, March 6 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures fell on Wednesday for a third straight session in largely technical trade, analysts said, with the benchmark April contract dipping to a three-week low.
CME live cattle futures also declined in range-bound trade.
Most-active April lean hogs settled down 0.175 cent at 85.000 cents per pound after dipping to 83.875 cents, the contract's lowest since Feb. 14.
June hogs fell 1.100 cents to close at 100.500 cents per pound.
Commodity funds hold a sizable net long position in CME lean hog futures, leaving the market open to bouts of long liquidation. Despite Wednesday's setback, the April hog contract is still up about 13.6% since the start of the calendar year, reflecting improving demand for U.S. pork, analysts have said.
Firming cash hog prices underpinned the market as well. The CME's Lean Hog Index, a two-day weighted average of cash prices, rose to 80.87 cents per pound on Wednesday, its highest reading since mid-October.
In the wholesale pork market, the U.S. Department of Agriculture priced the carcass cutout late Wednesday at $91.49 per hundredweight (cwt), up 6 cents from Tuesday.
Traders await the USDA's weekly export sales report on Thursday for a gauge of pork and beef export sales in the week ended Feb. 29.
Cattle futures ended modestly lower. CME April live cattle finished down 0.750 cent at 187.250 cents per pound but stayed inside of Tuesday's trading range. April feeder cattle futures fell 1.300 cents to end at 255.875 cents.
The USDA reported the choice boxed beef cutout on Wednesday afternoon at $304.91 per cwt, up 12 cents from Tuesday. (Reporting by Julie Ingwersen)
