Lean hog futures were squaring up ahead the Quarterly USDA report, with contracts down 35 to 70 cents. The USDA national average base hog negotiated price was down a dime at $88.09 in the Thursday PM report. The CME Lean Hog Index for March 25 was up 23 cents from the previous day at $89.13.

Hogs & Pigs data was friendly for the bulls as USDA revised the December 1 hog inventory 940,000 head lower. March 1 hog inventory was seen at 74.512 million head, down 0.24% yr/yr vs. estimates of +1.2%. Market hogs wee at 68.532 million head, down 0.21%, with the breeding herd down 0.6% to 5.98 million head. The December -February pig crop was down 0.16% to 33.701 million head as farrowings were revised (38,000 head) lower to 2.892 million head.

Pork export business was tallied at 31,947 MT in the week ending on March 20, a 3-week high. Mexico was the top buyer of 14,400 MT, with 3,700 MT sold to Columbia. Shipments were reported at a 5-week high of 31,639 MT. Of that total, 11,900 MT was headed to Mexico, with 4,100 MT each to South Korea and Japan.

Thursday afternoon’s pork cutout print from USDA was down 81 cents at $94.84 per cwt. The butt, picnic and belly were all reported lower. USDA estimated Thursday’s Federally inspected hog slaughter at 489,000 head, taking the weekly total to 1.939 million head. That is up 141,000 head from last week and 718 head below the same week last year. 

Apr 25 Hogs  closed at $87.025, down $0.525,

May 25 Hogs  closed at $88.850, down $0.675

Jun 25 Hogs  closed at $96.175, down $0.375,