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On Friday, lean hog futures are trading with gains of $1.50 to $2.75 across most contracts, while USDA’s national base hog prices increased by 18 cents to $104.20. The CME Lean Hog Index rose 6 cents to $105.06 on September 24.
The NASS report released Thursday indicated that the September 1 hog inventory fell by 1.35% from last year to 74.472 million head, contrary to estimates calling for a slight increase. Breeding hogs decreased by 1.82% to 5.934 million head, with market hog inventory dropping by 1.31% to 68.538 million head.
Additionally, USDA’s FOB plant pork cutout rose by $3.59 to $114.58 per cwt. Estimated federally inspected hog slaughter on Thursday was 490,000 head, accumulating a weekly total of 1.939 million head, which is down by 1,000 from the previous week but up by 3,906 from last year.
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