Hogs Fade Back on Friday Following Thursday’s Hogs & Pigs Report

Lean hog futures closed the Friday session fading lower, as contracts were 17 to 97 cents lower, with October was 12 cents higher for the week. USDA’s national base hog price was $78.68 in the Friday PM report, down 27 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was down another 27 cents on September 23 at $82.20. 

Managed money extended their record net short in lean hog futures and options by 4,147 contracts in the week of 9/22, taking it to 35,548 contracts.

USDA’s Hogs & Pigs report showed September 1 inventory of all hogs down 1.51% from a year ago at 74.302 million head. Market hogs were down 1.55% to 68.427 million head, with breeding inventory numbers down 1.03%. The June to August pig crop was down 1.53% at 34.5 million head. Farrowings during that period dropped 2.66%, with intentions for September to November down 1.79%.

The monthly Cold Storage report indicated pork stocks at the end of August at 436.27 million lbs, a 12.03% increase from a year ago and 0.81% below last month.

USDA’s pork carcass cutout value was back up 64 cents in the Friday afternoon report, at $86.74. The belly primal was the only reported higher. Federally inspected hog slaughter for this week was estimated at 2.552 million head. That was 68,000 head above last week and 19,124 head larger than the same week last year.

Oct 26 Hogs  closed at $78.225, down $0.975,

Dec 26 Hogs  closed at $69.025, down $0.450

Feb 27 Hogs  closed at $70.325, down $0.525,