Lean hog futures were down $1.10 to $2.60 in the front months on the Wednesday close, with back months 7 to 92 cents lower. Long liquidation may have been to blame ahead of the quarterly USDA report on Thursday, as Wednesday’s preliminary open interest was down 6,794 contracts. USDA’s national base hog prices from the Wednesday PM report was at $104.67, down $2.32 from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was down another 8 cents on September 22 at $104.90.
NASS will release their quarterly Hogs & Pigs report this afternoon, with September 1 inventory seen up 0.3% from last year. Hogs kept for breeding are expected to be down 0.5%, with market hog inventory seen up 0.3%.
USDA’s FOB plant pork cutout report from Wednesday afternoon was back down $1.05 at $111.63 per cwt. The loin primal was the only reported higher. USDA estimated federally inspected hog slaughter on Wednesday at 489,000 head, taking the weekly total to 1.454 million head after a 10,000 head lower revision to Tuesday. That was down 10,000 head from last week and 67 head below the same week last year.
Oct 25 Hogs closed at $99.425, down $1.100,
Dec 25 Hogs closed at $88.125, down $2.600
Feb 26 Hogs closed at $89.625, down $2.300,
