Hog Losses Continue on Friday
Lean hog futures closed the Friday session with contracts down 70 cents to $2.57 at the close, as April was $4 lower this week. The national average base hog negotiated price was reported at $90.02 on Friday afternoon by the USDA, up 53 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was back down 10 cents from the previous day on February 26 at $89.39.
President Trump’s 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada are still set for a March 4 start date after some back and forth this week.
Managed Money speculators were slashing 23,656 contracts from their net long as of 2/25, taking the net long to 90,492 contracts.
USDA reported the Friday afternoon FOB plant pork cutout value down $2.54 at $98.42 per cwt. The belly flip flop continues, back down $22.88, with the butt the only other primal reported lower. USDA reported this week’s Federally inspected hog slaughter estimated at 2.538 million head. That is 16,000 head above last week and 12,533 head above the same week last year.
Apr 25 Hogs closed at $83.675, down $0.700,
May 25 Hogs closed at $87.425, down $1.325
Jun 25 Hogs closed at $95.025, down $2.575,
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.