Lean hog futures bounced back from midday lows but still closed the last trade day of the week with triple digit losses. June hogs were down the most, closing $3 in the red, extending the week’s loss to $7.25. USDA’s National Average Afternoon Base Hog price was $104.49 after a $1.71 increase. ECB prices were withheld for confidentiality. The CME Lean Hog Index was up another 33 cents on 4/14, to $103.03.

CFTC data showed managed money was 77,960 contracts net long in lean hogs on 4/13. The weekly CoT report shows new buying interest pushed managed money’s net position to the most net long since 11/7 of 2017.

Pork cutout futures closed the Friday session with $0.30 to $2.57 losses. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout Value was reported at $112.09 this afternoon down by $1.28. USDA’s estimate for FI hog slaughter for the week through Saturday is 2.469m head. That left YTD slaughter at 39.141m head, trailing last year’s pace by 3.4%.  

China reported that first quarter 2021 pork production was up 31.9% from year ago, at 13.59 MMT, and the highest quarterly number in two years. Average carcass weights were down, and a significant driver for the higher production appears to be ASF related liquidation of both sows and market hogs. Herd size is claimed at 415.95 million head vs., 406.5 million in December.

May 21 Hogs  closed at $102.475, down $1.100,

Jul 21 Hogs  closed at $99.700, down $2.675

May 21 Pork Cutout  closed at $110.750, down $0.300,