Hog futures were back and forth at the start of the week, but finished little changed as neither rallies or breaks were able to get much traction. The cash hog market continues to trade softer as packers try to widen out margins. The hog index was down $.47 at $67.47, and the weekend slaughter data indicates another $.48 lower for Tuesday.
Packers killed just short of 2.5 million hogs last week, and the load count for this week on Monday was near unchanged from last week. We expect this week’s kill will be around 2.5 million, however next week is a holiday week and they may try to pull supplies forward ahead of the holiday.
June hogs stopped just short of contract highs on Monday, and as noted in tonight’s research producers should look to start selling 2nd quarter production on a further $3-5 rally.