On Thursday, lean hog futures declined with contracts down 47 cents to $1.40 for nearby months, while the USDA’s national base hog price was reported at $89.74. The CME Lean Hog Index increased by 34 cents to $90.18 on March 3. The USDA reported pork export sales at 36,103 MT for the week ending February 26, a decrease of 15.3% from the previous week, with Mexico as the top buyer at 22,400 MT.
The USDA also noted that pork shipments fell to 37,842 MT, a 7.9% week-over-week drop, with Mexico receiving 17,200 MT and Japan 5,100 MT. The pork carcass cutout value was up 60 cents to $99.22 per cwt, despite lower rib and picnic primal values. Thursday’s federally inspected hog slaughter reached 491,000 head, totaling 1.944 million head for the week—7,000 head below last week and 132,550 head under the same week last year.
