Lean hog futures declined by 40 to 60 cents on Thursday, with the CME Lean Hog Index dropping by 4 cents to $90.41 as of March 31. The USDA did not report the national base hog price due to low trading volume. This marks the last trading day of the week ahead of the market closure for Good Friday.
In the week ending March 26, the USDA reported pork export sales of 53,049 metric tons (MT), the highest for the calendar year, while shipments reached 39,758 MT, a five-week high. Monthly data revealed pork exports for February at 574.24 million lbs, ranking as the fourth largest on record for that month but down 2.7% from January. For the week, federally inspected hog slaughter totaled 1.477 million head, 7,000 head below last week yet 33,573 head above the same period last year.
