Lean hog futures posted gains of 50 cents to $1.30 on Wednesday and are trading another $0.77 to $1.30/cwt higher at midday on Thursday. Preliminary open interest was down 4,490 contracts on Wednesday, suggesting the buying was mostly short covering. USDA’s national base hog price had a weighted average (HG202) of $109.60 this morning, down $2.21 from Wednesday. The WCB negotiated average was $109.59, with the IA/MN at $108.58. The CME Lean Hog Index was up a penny at $107.20 on July 15.
USDA’s FOB plant pork cutout value for Thursday morning was $1.32 higher at $114.82 per cwt. Pork belly (raw bacon) quotes were another $3.01 per cwt higher, with all primals excluding the ribs quoted higher for the day. Wednesday’s USDA estimated hog slaughter was 477,000 head, taking the weekly total to 1.408 million head. That was 10,000 head below last week and 26,663 head lower than the same week last year.
USDA reported weekly pork export sales were 17,100 MT in the week ending July 10. That was down about 30% from the previous week Mexico and Japan were the lead buyers. Export shipments for the week totaled 26,500 MT with the largest quantities going to Mexico and China.
Aug 25 Hogs are at $105.200, up $0.775,
Oct 25 Hogs are at $90.025, up $1.325
Dec 25 Hogs is at $81.700, up $1.250,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
