The front month lean hog futures market was mostly lower on Thursday with 12 to 22 cent losses past the May contract. April and May hogs stayed higher on Thursday, but April was still a net $1.10 loss for the week. The National Average Base Hog price was down by 72 cents to $70.68. CME’s Lean Hog Index was $73.91 on 4/4, down by another 57 cents.
The Export Sales report had 53,242 MT of pork bookings for the week that ended 3/30. That was a new high for the year led by sales to China. USDA also had 31,519 MT of pork shipments for the week which brought the yearly total to 388k MT according to the weekly data.
Pork cutout futures went into the long weekend with $0.10 to $1.10 gains. USDA’s Friday Pork Carcass Cutout value was 78 cents lower to $77.90. Bellies were down by $6.72. The week’s hog slaughter was 2370m head through Saturday. That was 119k head behind the week prior and was 60k head under the same week last year. YTD hog slaughter trails last year’s pace by 1.4%.
Apr 23 Hogs closed at $74.150, up $0.750,
May 23 Hogs closed at $82.200, up $0.900
Apr 23 Pork Cutout closed at $79.400, up $0.375,
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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