Lean hog futures were up another 20 to 75 cents on Friday, as the bounce last week saw April rally $2.40. Preliminary open interest was up 1,045 contracts on Friday. USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $88.96 on Friday afternoon, down $2.08 from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was 40 cents higher on Feb 18 at $87.59.
USDA tallied 27,255 MT of pork sold in the week of 2/12, a 5-week low. Mexico was the largest buyer of 9,200 MT, with 5,600 MT to Japan. Export shipments were a total of 35,653 MT, the lowest for the calendar year. The largest destination was Mexico at 17,200 MT, with 4,200 MT to Japan.
Managed money cut 16,820 contracts from their large net long position in the week of 2/17, with the net long at 116,461 contracts.
USDA’s pork carcass cutout value from the Friday PM report was 67 cents lower at $95.61 per cwt. The rib and belly primals were the only reported higher. USDA estimated federally inspected hog slaughter for last week at 2.516 million head. That was 19,000 head below last week but 14,671 head shy of the same week last year.
Apr 26 Hogs closed at $93.675, up $0.225,
May 26 Hogs closed at $98.275, up $0.525
Jun 26 Hogs closed at $107.825, up $0.650,
