Lean hog futures closed mixed on Friday, with August futures up 50 cents at $108.70 and other contracts down 50 to 67 cents. The USDA reported a national base hog price of $110.27, down $3.34 from the previous report, as the CME Lean Hog Index increased by 72 cents to $109.95 on July 23.
USDA’s monthly Cold Storage data indicated that as of June 30, there were 422.29 million lbs of pork stocks, marking a decrease of 6.32% from May and 11.1% year-over-year. Additionally, the USDA estimated a total hog slaughter of 2.338 million head for the week, down 4,000 from the prior week and 100,899 head from the same week last year.
As of a Tuesday report, managed money reduced their net long position by 4,186 contracts, bringing the total to 110,407 contracts. The Friday morning FOB plant pork cutout value was reported at $118.86 per cwt, an increase of $1.32.
