Hogs Slopping Back Ahead of USDA Data Release

Lean hog futures slipped lower into the Wednesday close, with contracts 15 to 67 cents lower, as October was up 60 points. Open interest was up 2,122 contracts across the board. USDA’s national base hog price was $79.01 in the Thursday morning report, down 32 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was down another 45 cents on September 22 at $82.47. 

Export Sales data showed 35,323 MT of pork sales in the week of September 17 for 2026 shipment. Actual exports were tallied at 32,092 MT in that week, an 8-week high.

USDA will release their quarterly Hogs & Pigs report this afternoon, with traders looking for September 1 inventory of all hogs to be down 0.8% from a year ago. The June to August pig crop is seen down 1%. Farrowings during that period are estimated to be down 1.7%, with intentions for September to November down 0.8%.

USDA’s pork carcass cutout value was back up 18 cents in the Thursday AM report, at $87.00. The belly and rib primals were the only reported lower. Federally inspected hog slaughter for Wednesday was estimated at 486,000 head, with the weekly total at 1.433 million head. That was 25,000 head below last week and 16,080 head shy of the same week last year.

Oct 26 Hogs  are at $79.275, down $0.600,

Dec 26 Hogs  are at $69.525, down $0.800

Feb 27 Hogs are at $70.925, down $1.100,

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.