Lean hog futures were down 7 cents in April, as the rest of the board was 17 to 75 cents higher on Thursday. Open interest was down 2,376 contracts on the day. USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $90.89 on Thursday afternoon, down 76 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was down another 6 cents on March 24 at $91.65.
Hogs and Pigs data from Thursday afternoon, showed all hog inventory up 0.44% from a year ago at 74.321 million head. Market hogs were up 0.61% at 68.429 million head, with and hogs kept for breeding down 1.47% to 5.892 million head. Sows farrowing in Dec-Feb were down 1.48% compared to intentions of 1.91% last quarter. The Dec-Feb pig crop was up 0.57% to 33.177 million head.
