Hogs Slip Lower into the End of the Year

Lean hog futures posted losses of a nickel to 35 cents on Wednesday. USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $70.19 on Wednesday afternoon, down 19 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was back down 19 on December 29 at $82.25. 

CFTC data showed managed money in lean hog futures and options adding 10,489 contracts to their net long in the week of 12/23 to a net long position of 75,325 contracts. 

The delayed Export Sales report from USDA showed a total of 18,978 MT of pork sold for 2025 in the week of December 18, with 25,998 MT for 2026 shipment. Exports were tallied at 34,850 MT for that week.

USDA’s pork carcass cutout value from the Wednesday PM report was 39 cents lower at $93.74 per cwt. The picnic and ham were the only primals reported higher. USDA estimated federally inspected hog slaughter for Wednesday at 418,000 head, with the weekly total at 1.36 million head.

Feb 26 Hogs  closed at $85.100, down $0.350,

Apr 26 Hogs  closed at $89.900, down $0.275

May 26 Hogs  closed at $94.000, down $0.050,

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.