Lean hog futures experienced mixed results on Friday, with April contracts declining by $0.05, while other contracts rose between $0.20 and $0.67. The USDA reported a national base hog price of $91.69, an increase of $1.95 from the previous day. The CME Lean Hog Index rose by $0.37 to $90.55 as of March 4.
The USDA’s pork carcass cutout value dropped by $0.95 to $98.27 per cwt. Meanwhile, the estimated federally inspected hog slaughter this week was 2.497 million head, which is 19,000 head lower than last week but 95,953 head higher than the same week last year. Managed money increased their net long positions in lean hog futures and options by 7,053 contracts to a total of 124,036 contracts as of last Tuesday.
