Lean hog futures closed with 7 to 70 cent losses across the front months on Thursday. Open interest was up 2,062 contracts on Thursday. USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $86.58 on Thursday afternoon, down 24 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was 23 cents higher on Feb 3 at $86.06.
The weekly Export Sales report indicated 35,107 MT of pork sold in the week ending on January 29, down 37.3% from last week and 30.7% below the same week last year. Mexico was the top buyer of 13,800 MT, with 5,200 MT sold to China. Export shipments were 37,622 MT in that week, up 4.7% from the same week last year. Mexico took 16,900 MT, with 4,300 MT headed to Japan.
USDA’s pork carcass cutout value from Thursday afternoon report was $2.27 higher to $95.27 per cwt. The rib was the only primal reported lower, with the belly (+$6.38) leading the way higher. USDA estimated federally inspected hog slaughter on Thursday was 450,000 head, taking the weekly total to 1.903 million head. That was 38,000 head above last week but 26,824 head below the same week last year.
Feb 26 Hogs closed at $87.300, down $0.700,
Apr 26 Hogs closed at $98.375, down $0.075
May 26 Hogs closed at $101.500, down $0.250,
