Market Performance
As the week drew to a close, the lean hog market surged, notching gains of 45 to 60 cents. The April contract closed $1.97 higher for the week, with the July contract hitting +$100 for the first time since Feb 2023. The USDA’s National Average Base Hog price dipped by $1.71 on Friday afternoon to $71.49, while the 02/21 CME Lean Hog Index saw an increase of 81 cents to $78.78.
Trader Sentiment and Export Sales
Speculative traders in lean hogs held a 48.2k contract net long position, representing a 14.5k contract increase through net new buying, according to the Weekly Commitment of Traders data. In terms of exports, the weekly Export Sales report indicated pork bookings at 29k MT for the week ending 2/15. This figure was slightly lower than the previous two weeks. Additionally, USDA revised a significant sale from the prior week due to errors pertaining to China and Mexico. Pork commitments for the year are now at 456.3k MT, displaying a 3% increase compared to last year’s pace.
Industry Indicators
Friday afternoon’s National Pork Carcass Cutout Value stood at $91.16, with a 73 cents decline attributed mainly to decreased bellies prices. While every primal cut showed an uptick from Thursday, the bellies saw a considerable drop of $9.36. The weekly pork output was reported at 558.9 million lbs, up from 556 million lbs the prior week and significantly higher than the 510.2 million lbs during the same period last year. Slaughter rates rose by 0.7% for the week and by 9.2% compared to the same week in the previous year, with 2.361 million head harvested.
Apr 24 Hogs closed at $87.200, up $0.000,
May 24 Hogs closed at $90.850, up $0.525
Apr 24 Pork Cutout closed at $93.225, down $0.025,
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler 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.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
