Hogs and Pigs Report Reaction for Friday

Hog futures ended the day with 32 to 77 cent gains across most of the nearby contracts. April was still down by 32 cents at the bell. The National Average Afternoon Base Hog price for Thursday was 44 cents higher to $75.95. The CME Lean Hog Index was $76 flat on 3/28, which was down by 25 cents 

NASS’s quarterly update on the hog herd showed a 72.86m head inventory for March 1st. That was up 170k head or 0.23% from last year and on the nose with the trade average guess going in. The breeding herd increased by 0.5% from last year to 6.127m head – again matching the pre-report estimate. Farrowing intentions for March-May was reported at 2.93m head, down from 2.967m last year compared to the 0.8% expected increase. The Dec-Feb pig crop was 32.058m head – up by 111k head yr/yr and near even with 2021. 

Weekly pork export sales were 30,386 MT according to USDA’s FAS. That was down 20% from last week but was 10% above the same week last year. Mexico was the week’s top buyer with 14.6k MT of the total. The week’s export was 32,433 MT, also primarily to Mexico, which brough the YTD total to 356,510 MT. That is 1.7% ahead of last year’s pace. 

Pork cutout futures settled Thursday’s session mixed with 40 cent losses nearby and a $1.27 gain in the July contract. USDA’s Pork Carcass Cutout value for Thursday afternoon was $1.47 weaker to $78.79. USDA estimated FI hog slaughter at 1.921 million head for the week through Thursday. That is 9,000 above last week, and even with the same week last year. 

Apr 23 Hogs  closed at $76.450, down $0.325,

May 23 Hogs  closed at $84.750, up $0.325

Apr 23 Pork Cutout  closed at $81.450, down $0.400,