Lean hog futures increased by 20 to 82 cents on Thursday, with the CME Lean Hog Index rising 54 cents to $91.05 as of April 21. The USDA’s national base hog price was not reported due to decreased trading volume. Weekly export sales for the week ending April 16 reached a calendar year low of 16,127 MT, with Mexico purchasing 8,900 MT and South Korea 3,300 MT.
In terms of shipments, a total of 38,177 MT were exported, marking a three-week high, primarily to Mexico (17,300 MT) and Japan (4,900 MT). The USDA reported a federally inspected hog slaughter of 490,000 head on Thursday, bringing the weekly total to 1.966 million, which is 183,932 head higher compared to the same week last year.
