Lean hog futures are trading near to 70 cents under the session high for midday wit 40 to 8- cent gains on the board. USDA’s National Average Afternoon Base Hog price was $1.37 weaker to $79.26. The CME Lean Hog Index was $83.69 for 3/25, back up by 21 cents.  

USDA’s FAS reported 55.3k MT of pork was sold for the week that ended 3/21. That was a new yearly high led by sales to Vietnam and Italy.

USDA will release their quarterly Hogs & Pigs report this afternoon. Traders expect shrinkage in the Kept for breeding category, with estimates between 95.2 and 98% of year ago. That is offset by higher productivity, with pigs per litter estimates up 3.4% from last year. The market hog and all hog numbers are seen at or slightly above year ago. 

USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout Value dropped another r$1.27 to $94.06 on Wednesday afternoon. USDA estimated FI hog slaughter for the week at 1.457 million head through Wednesday. That is 5k head behind last week’s pace but is up 15k head from the same week last year. 

April 24 Hogs  are at $86.475, up $0.375,

May 24 Hogs  are at $91.900, down $0.500

April 24 Pork Cutout  is at $95.500, up $1.550,