
Lean hog futures were mixed going into the weekend. The nearbys were 5 to 90 cents stronger at the close, while deferred contracts fell 17 to 25 cents on Friday. USDA’s National Average Base hog price was $104.59 on Friday afternoon, down by 72 cents. The CME Lean Hog Index for 7/20 was up a penny to $112.31.
The weekly CoT report showed that spec traders were buying lean hogs through the week that ended 7/20. On net the group was 7,618 contracts more net long to 77,064 contracts – itself a 5-week high.
Pork cutout futures were $0.37 to $1.17 stronger at the close. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout Value was $122.37 in the PM quote just 6 cents stronger. , up by $4.72. That was led by an $11.17 bump in hams. USDA estimated the week’s hog slaughter at 2.332m head through Saturday. That compares to 2.28 last week and 2.57 from the same week in 2020. YTD hog slaughter was seen 0.6% behind last year’s pace.
Aug 21 Hogs closed at $107.350, up $0.700,
Dec 21 Hogs closed at $85.575, up $0.575
Aug 21 Pork Cutout closed at $117.175, up $1.175,