Lean hog futures slipped lower into the Wednesday close, with contracts 15 to 67 cents lower, as October was up 60 points. Open interest was up 2,122 contracts across the board. USDA’s national base hog price was $79.65 in the Wednesday PM report, down 25 cents from the day prior. The CME Lean Hog Index was down another 50 cents on September 21 at $82.92.
USDA will release their quarterly Hogs & Pigs report this afternoon, with traders looking for September 1 inventory of all hogs to be down 0.8% from a year ago. The June to August pig crop is seen down 1%. Farrowings during that period are estimated to be down 1.7%, with intentions for September to November down 0.8%.
