On Friday, January 5, 2024, lean hog futures dropped by 60 cents to $1 across nearby contracts, with February futures closing at $84.10, down $1.00. The USDA’s national base hog price was not reported due to thin trading volume. The CME Lean Hog Index increased slightly by a penny to $82.26 on December 30.
The USDA reported a $94.57 per cwt pork carcass cutout value, up 83 cents from the previous day, with the butt and belly primals seeing declines. Federal inspected hog slaughter for the week was estimated at 2.228 million head, up 250,000 head from the prior week but down 41,794 from the same week last year.
