Lean hog futures were in rally mode on Thursday, with contracts $1.90 to $2.30 higher at the close. Open interesting was up 7,146 contracts on Thursday. USDA’s national base hog price was not reported on Thursday afternoon due to light volume. The CME Lean Hog Index was down 11 cents on Jan 13 at $80.39. The markets will be off on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
USDA’s Export Sales data showed pork bookings at 26,826 MT in the week of January 8. Mexico was the largest buyer of 9,200 MT, with 5,200 MT sold to Japan. Shipments were pegged at 40,672 MT. The top destination was Mexico at 21,000 MT, with 4,200 MT.
USDA’s pork carcass cutout value from the Thursday afternoon report was $2.31 higher at $93.60 per cwt. The picnic and rib primals were the only reported lower. USDA estimated federally inspected hog slaughter for Thursday at 492,000 head, with the weekly tally at 1.973 million. That is 7,000 head above last week and 46,901 head above the same week last year.
Feb 26 Hogs closed at $87.800, up $2.100,
Apr 26 Hogs closed at $95.000, up $2.300
May 26 Hogs closed at $98.475, up $1.900,
