Hog Outlook: Largest Hog Slaughter Week Ever
US - This week's hog slaughter is the largest ever. Slaughter bounced back from last week's reduced level caused by Hurricane Matthew, write Ron Plain and Scott Brown, Ag Economics, MU.
24 October 2016
3 minute read
By: This week's hog slaughter totaled 2.514 million head, up 9.1 per cent from last week, up 8.3 per cent from the same week last year, and 15 thousand head above the old record set the week ending on December 19, 2015. Look for the week ahead to also have a big slaughter.
The average retail price of pork during September was $3.789 per pound. That was down $0.90 per pound form the month before and down $13.00 from a year ago. The farm-to-retail marketing margin was the largest since January.
The average live price for 51-52 per cent lean hogs was $43.36/cwt during September. That was down $4.76 from the month before and down $8.28 from a year ago.
Friday morning's pork cutout value was $74.02/cwt FOB slaughter plants. That is up 43 cents from the week before. Loin and butt prices were lower; belly and ham prices were higher.
The national negotiated barrow and gilt price averaged $44.58/cwt on the morning report today, down 86 cents from a week earlier. The western corn belt averaged $45.40/cwt this morning, down $1.92 from last Friday. There was no regional price quotes this morning for the eastern corn belt or for Iowa-Minnesota. This morning's national negotiated hog price is only 60.2per cent of the cutout value.
The top hog price today at Peoria was $25/cwt, unchanged from a week ago. Today's top price for interior Missouri live hogs was $29.25/cwt, down 75 cents from last Friday.
The average slaughter weight of barrows and gilts in Iowa-Minnesota last week was 281.4 pounds. That is up 0.2 pound from the week before, but down 0.8 pound from the same week last year.
Hog futures were a lower this week. The December lean hog futures contract ended the week at $41.85/cwt, down 37.5 cents from the preceding Friday. February hogs settled at $48.725/cwt, down $1.55 from last Friday. The April contract settled at $56.725, down $1.30 for the week. June hogs settled at $69.675 today.
Corn futures were a bit lower this week. The December corn futures contract lost 1.75 cents this week to close at $3.525 per bushel. March corn futures closed 1.5 cents lower than last Friday at $3.6225/bu. May corn futures ended the week at $3.69/bu.
