Lean hogs were triple digits higher on Friday. The Dec hog contract printed another wide range for the week, including lows not seen since May, but was higher by $1.80 Friday to Friday. USDA’s National Average Base Hog price was $73.92 on Friday afternoon, up $3.63 on the day. The 10/04 CME Lean Hog Index was $83.7, down by another 58 cents.
CFTC’s Commitment of Traders report showed spec traders had closed 11.2k of their longs and added 7.5k new shorts. That was the group’s smallest outright long exposure in lean hog futures and options since June of 2011 (40,534 contracts) and reduced their net position to a 13,719 contract net long.
Pork cutout futures settled $0.85 to $1.80 in the black on Friday. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout Value was $93.22 in the Friday PM report, down by $1.76.
USDA estimated the week’s FI hog slaughter at 2.564m head through Saturday. Weekly pork production was 0.8% below last week and 2.7% lighter than last year. Slaughter was 1.3% lighter for the week, though just 0.2% lower yr/yr indicating lighter carcasses. The year to date pork production remains 0.1% ahead of last year’s volume, and slaughter remains 1.3% ahead of last year’s pace.
Oct 23 Hogs closed at $82.325, up $1.425,
Dec 23 Hogs closed at $73.575, up $1.300
Oct 23 Pork Cutout closed at $93.900, up $1.800,
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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