U.S. livestock prices may reach records in the next two quarters as farmers reduce herds at the same time China imports the most pork since at least 1992 and the largest amount of beef in three years, Bloomberg said today based on a report from Societe Generale SA, a European financial services conglomerate.

Lean-hog futures will climb to a record $1.10 a pound in the second quarter, and live cattle prices will be at an all-time high of $1.30 a pound by the third quarter, Societe Generale said. Chinese imports of pork will increase 5.7 percent in 2011, and beef purchases will advance 43 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

World food prices rose 28 percent in the past year, reaching a record in January, according to the United Nations. Finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations last week signaled concern that surging commodity costs are driving inflationary pressures around the world.

“Meat will start to have an impact on the price index and start to put a pinch on the consumer’s pocketbook,” said Jason Britt, president of Central States Commodities Inc., a brokerage in Kansas City, Mo.

Hog futures traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have jumped 31 percent in the past year, and live cattle prices climbed 24 percent during the same period, Bloomberg said.

Corn prices surged 93 percent in the past year, soymeal gained 37 percent and wheat rose 73 percent, Bloomberg said.

Wholesale pork and beef will have to gain another 50 percent, as will cattle and hog futures, to keep up with increasing grain prices, said Robbert Van Batenburg, an analyst at Louis Capital Markets LLC in New York.