Lean Hog futures were mostly 45 cents to $1.30 in the red on Thursday. The CME Lean Hog Index was down 20 cents from the previous day @ $57.16 on February 5. The USDA pork carcass cutout value was down 50 cents on Thursday afternoon at an average weighted price of $65.11. The national base cash hog carcass value was down 23 cents in the PM report, with a weighted average of $49.52 USDA estimated FI hog slaughter for the week at 1.885 million head through Thursday. That is well above the previous week and 41,000 head larger than the same week last year. Delayed USDA export sales reporting for the week ending 12/27 showed China buying 14,500 MT net.
--provided by Brugler Marketing & Management