Lean hog futures saw front month April up 47 cents ahead of next week’s expiration, as other contracts were down 25 to 77 cents. Open interest was down 1,865 contracts. USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $89.92 on Thursday afternoon. The CME Lean Hog Index was back up 24 cents on April 7 at $90.30.
Export Sales data from Thursday morning showed 31,347 MT of pork sold in the week of 4/2, a 4-week low. Mexico was the buyer of 14,700 MT, with 3,700 MT sold to Japan. Shipments were a calendar year low at 35,122 MT in that week. O that total, 14,400 MT was headed to Mexico, with 4,900 MT to Japan.
USDA’s pork carcass cutout value from the Thursday PM report was up 47 cents at $97.38 per cwt. The loin and picnic primals were the only reported lower. USDA estimated Thursday ‘s federally inspected hog slaughter at 495,000 head, taking the weekly total to 1.848 million head. That was 117,000 head below the previous week and 100,231 head shy of the same week last year.
Apr 26 Hogs closed at $90.675, up $0.475,
May 26 Hogs closed at $95.900, down $0.475
Jun 26 Hogs closed at $104.125, down $0.525,
