By Karl Plume
CHICAGO, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures climbed on Friday, largely supported by positioning ahead of a key hog inventory report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) after the close, analysts said.
Higher cash pork prices and the still-wide discount of futures to cash hog prices were also supportive.
Lean hogs are likely to post further gains when futures trading resumes on Monday following a bullish USDA quarterly hogs and pigs report that pegged the herd below consensus market expectations.
The inventory of all hogs on Sept. 1 was down 4% from a year ago, while the number of hogs kept for breeding was down 2%, both below average estimates. Particularly supportive was June-to-August pig crop that was down 6% from last summer.
“The summer pig crop coming in down 6% is the shocking number. That’s going to support the winter contracts. And we’re still seeing the kept-for-breeding numbers holding below a year ago so its also supportive longer term,” said Dennis Smith, commodity broker at Archer Financial Services.
“I’m guessing hog futures are going to be sharply higher on Monday,” he said.
The pork carcass cutout value jumped $6.48 on Friday to $110.77 per cwt, the highest since Aug. 27, as ham and loin prices surged, according to the USDA.
CME October lean hogs LHV1 surged late in the session to close 2.525 cents higher at 87.275 cents per lb, while the December contract LHZ1 added 0.300 cent to 76.800 cents per lb.
CME live cattle futures eased on positioning ahead of the monthly USDA cattle-on-feed report, issued after the close, which pegged Sept. 1 on-feed supplies and August placements above trade estimates.
October live cattle LCV1 fell 0.300 cent to 122.925 cents per lb, while December LCZ1 shed 0.475 cent to 128.150 cents.
November feeder cattle futures FCX1 rose 0.475 cent to 158.575 cents per lb.
(Reporting by Karl Plume)
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