Lean hog futures were firm to 20 cents higher in the front months on Thursday. The national average base hog negotiated price was reported at $86.23 on Thursday afternoon, down 48 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was reported at $84.60 on February 4, up 52 cents from the previous day. 

Pork export sales totaled 50,671 MT in the week of 1/30, a high so far for the calendar year, and up 51% from the previous week. Mexico was the top buyer of 21,000 MT, with 7,200 MT sold to South Korea. Export shipments totaled 37,762 MT, the largest in 3 weeks. That was also 10.7% above the week prior. The largest destination was Mexico at 13,900 MT, with 5,500 MT headed to Japan.

USDA’s FOB plant pork cutout value was $1.81 higher in the Thursday PM report at $95.64 per cwt. The picnic and rib primals were reported lower. Federally inspected hog slaughter for Thursday was estimated at 481,000 head, with the week to date total at 1.945 million head. That was 12,000 head above last week and down 14,244 head from the same week last year.

Feb 25 Hogs  closed at $86.650, unch

Apr 25 Hogs  closed at $91.750, up $0.200

May 25 Hogs  closed at $95.825, up $0.100,