Hogs Look to Square Up Ahead of Hogs & Pigs Report
Lean hog futures saw 30 to 90 cent gains across most contracts on Wednesday. The USDA national average base hog negotiated price was reported at $88.19 on Wednesday afternoon, down another $0.46 from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index for March 24 was up 11 cents from the previous day at $88.90.
Hogs & Pigs data will be released this afternoon, with traders surveyed by Reuters looking for all inventory as of March 1 at 75.587 million head, up 1.2% from last year. That is widely expected to be via the marketing number, seen up 1.1% to 69.431 million head, with breeding hogs up 0.2% at 6.028 million head.
Wednesday afternoon’s FOB plant pork cutout from USDA was down $1.90 at $95.65 per cwt. The belly led the charge, down $6.16, with the butt and picnic the only primals reported higher. USDA estimated Wednesday’s Federally inspected hog slaughter at 487,000 head, taking the weekly total to 1.45 million head. That is up 117,000 head from last week after and 236 head below the same week last year.
Apr 25 Hogs closed at $87.550, up $0.900,
May 25 Hogs closed at $89.525, up $0.475
Jun 25 Hogs closed at $96.550, up $0.300,
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.