Lean hog futures saw nearby contracts rise by 30 to 67 cents on Thursday, while back months declined by 10 to 67 cents. According to the USDA, national base hog prices dropped 17 cents to $104.50, while the CME Lean Hog Index increased by a dime to $105.00 as of September 23.
The USDA’s quarterly Hogs & Pigs report indicated that the hog inventory on September 1 was 74.472 million head, down 1.35% from last year, falling short of estimates. Breeding hogs were recorded at 5.934 million head, a 1.82% decrease, while market hogs decreased by 1.31% to 68.538 million head. For the week ending September 18, 29,402 MT of pork were sold, with Mexico as the largest buyer at 10,000 MT.
USDA’s pork cutout report noted a decrease of 64 cents, bringing the price to $110.99 per cwt. The estimated federally inspected hog slaughter on Thursday was 490,000 head, totaling 1.939 million head for the week, which is down 1,000 head from last week but up 3,906 head from the same week last year.
