Lean hog futures registered declines of 30 to 65 cents in the front months on Friday. The USDA reported the national base hog price at $91.29, while the CME Lean Hog Index increased by 11 cents to $92.04 on March 18.
Additionally, the USDA’s pork carcass cutout value rose by $2.84 to reach $100.89 per hundredweight, with all primals reported higher. The estimated federally inspected hog slaughter on Thursday was 492,000 head, contributing to a weekly total of 1.879 million head, which is 89,000 head lower than the previous week but 78,103 head more than the same week last year.
