Hogs Give Back Triple Digits

Lean hog futures touched limit down, but closed off the $4.75 limit with $1.85 to $4.35 losses. June and July futures were the weakest of the complex. Long liquidation was an issue, with preliminary open interest dropping 6,908 contracts for the day. The National Average Base Hog price for Tuesday afternoon was $99.49, down by $1.38. CME’s 3/31 Lean Hog Index was $102.63, down by 50 cents.   

The pork cutout futures were also down hard on Monday, closing the session $1.12 to $4.40 in the red. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout Value for Monday was up by $2.75, from $19 strength in bellies, to $106.35. Bellies were $34.15 higher in the AM report. USDA’s FI hog slaughter estimate for Monday is 477k head. That is up by 1k head from last week and compares to just 336k head during the same week last year (Monday after Easter). 

Apr 22 Hogs  closed at $99.450, down $1.850,

May 22 Hogs  closed at $109.300, down $3.875

Apr 22 Pork Cutout  closed at $106.550, down $1.125,