Hogs Post Modest Friday Gains

Lean hog futures were up 15 to 50 cents across the board on Friday.  The national average base hog price was reported at $72.05 on Friday afternoon, down $4.10 from the previous day. The CME Lean Hog Index was reported at $83.84 on October 16, down a penny from the day prior.

Pork export sales totaled 38,100 MT in the week of October 10, which was a drop of 24.8% from last week. Mexico was the lead buyer of 8,900 MT, with Japan buying 7,800 MT. Export shipments totaled 34,000 MT, a 49.2% increase from the last week. Of that total, 8,900 MT was headed to Mexico, with 7,800 MT on its way to Japan. 

CFTC showed spec funds in lean hog futures and options adding another 4,388 contracts to their net long position as of October 15 to 74,987 contracts. 

USDA’s FOB plant pork cutout value was reported at $96.59 per cwt in the Friday PM release, up 18 cents from the day prior. The loin, butt, and picnic were the primals reported lower, with the belly leading the way to the upside and $5.76 higher. USDA estimated the weekly FI hog slaughter at 2.613 million head. That is up 29,000 head from the previous week but down 2,899 head from the same week last year.

Dec 24 Hogs  are at $77.825, up $0.150,

Feb 25 Hogs  are at $81.850, up $0.300

Apr 25 Hogs  is at $85.625, up $0.500,

On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder 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.