
Front month hog prices were another triple digits lower on Friday. Dec and Feb futures gave back another 3% on the day. For Dec hogs that cemented the weekly pullback at $2.92, but the contract printed a very wide $6.68 range through the week. USDA’s National Average Base Hog price from Friday afternoon was $77.59, down by 50 cents. The CME Lean Hog Index was 50 cents higher on 9/20 to $87.17.
CFTC’s weekly Commitment of Traders data showed lean hog spec traders were closing shorts and adding new longs through the week that ended 9/19. That extended their net long by 2,799 contracts to 40,985. Recent data from the CME had October OI down 7.8% on Thursday, and Dec OI down 1.6k contracts (but Dec OI was still net higher for the week through Thursday).
Pork cutout futures went into the weekend with Friday losses of $1.60 to $2.05. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout Value for Friday was cited at $97.26 after another $1.49 drop. Bellies were $10.38 weaker on Friday. USDA estimated this week’s FI hog slaughter at 2.537m head through Saturday. That is 6k head higher wk/wk but trailed the 2.555m head slaughter during the same week last year. The yearly pace remains 1.3% above last year with 91.486m head.
Oct 23 Hogs closed at $81.525, down $1.425,
Dec 23 Hogs closed at $72.175, down $2.300
Oct 23 Pork Cutout closed at $92.200, down $1.600,
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.