CME cattle retreat on 'pink slime' fallout worries

March 28 (Reuters) - CME live cattle futures fell early
Wednesday, reversed Tuesday's steep rise, amid worries that the
uproar about ammonia-treated ground beef known as "pink slime"
would keep dragging down wholesale beef prices.
* A Tyson Foods Inc executive said Tuesday that the
controversy over what the industry calls "finely textured beef"
has hurt demand for U.S. ground beef. [ID:nL2E8QR3EL
* Also weighing on cattle futures was uncertainty about this
week's cash cattle prices given extremely negative beef packer
margins.
* Hog futures traded lower with the decline in cash hog
prices.

LIVE CATTLE - At 8:45 a.m. CDT (1445 GMT), April down
0.600 cent per lb at 125.000 cents and June down 0.575
cent at 121.400 cents.
* "I guess what we saw yesterday was a dead-cat bounce with
the deal about "pink slime" later pulling down the boxers
(wholesale price)," an analyst said.
* USDA Tuesday afternoon estimated the average price for
choice beef at wholesale at $185.44 per cwt, down $1.31. Select
cuts dropped $1.18 to $185.38 with a total sales volume of 197
carloads.
* Feedlots in Texas and Kansas priced their cattle at $128
per cwt.
* Packers are expected cut bids for cattle based on
Tuesday's margins that was at a negative $75.90 per head,
compared with a negative $38.24 a week ago, according to
HedgersEdge.com.

FEEDER CATTLE - March down 0.125 cent at 153.700
cents per lb and April down 0.350 cent at 153.675 cents.

* Futures traded weaker with lower live cattle contracts.

LEAN HOGS - April down 0.225 cent per lb at 84.575
cents and June down 0.575 cents at 93.150 cents.
* Packers trimmed slaughter rates and cash prices to bring
their margins back in line.
* The government's estimate for the average price of hogs at
the benchmark Iowa/southern Minnesota market Tuesday evening
was 73 cents per cwt lower at $81.31.
* Pork packer margins for Tuesday was estimated at a
negative $7.55 per head, compared with a negative $4.21 last
week.

(Reporting by Theopolis Waters)