Lean Hogs Aug '24 (HEQ24)

Lean hog futures were down 7 cents in April, as the rest of the board was 17 to 75 cents higher on Thursday. 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 this 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. 

Export Sales data showed 40,339 MT of pork booked in the week ending on March 19, a 5-week high. Mexico was the top buyer of 14,100 MT, with 9,700 MT sold to China. Shipments were also the highest in 4 weeks at 39,115 MT. Mexico took 16,700 MT of that, with 4,700 MT to South Korea. 

USDA’s pork carcass cutout... Read more