Lean hog futures were down 45 cents to $1.55 in most front months on Friday, with June up 85 cents last week. Open interest was up just 998 contracts on Friday. USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $90.42 on Friday afternoon. The CME Lean Hog Index was up another 38 cents on April 22 at $91.43.
Cold Storage data from Friday showed March 31 pork stocks at 411.28 million lbs, which was a 0.44% increase from a year ago and 2.09% above last year.
Commitment of Traders data showed managed money in lean hog futures and options slashing another 22,296 contracts from their net long as of April 21, taking it to 65,591 contracts.
USDA’s pork carcass cutout value from the Friday PM report was back up $1.79 at $99.61 per cwt. The rib and ham primals were the only reported lower. USDA estimated last week’s federally inspected slaughter at 2.469 million head. That is down 17,000 head from the previous week but 53,057 head above the same week last year.
May 26 Hogs closed at $94.300, down $1.350,
Jun 26 Hogs closed at $101.900, down $1.550
Jul 26 Hogs closed at $104.900, down $1.525,
