Lean hog closed Thursday with 47 to $2.27 gains. Dec was the strongest but is still far below the Index. October needs to match the index by next week’s expiration. The CME Lean Hog Index was another 9 cents higher on 10/6 to $77.50. USDA’s National Average Afternoon Base Hog price was $1.37 higher to $65.11. USDA showed 60,195 MT of pork bookings in the weekly Export Sales report. That was the largest single week sales since the week ending 4/4 last year. Of the pork sales, China and Mexico were the top buyers with 48% and 27% of the total respectively. YTD pork exports were reported at 1.448 MMT, which is 49% above the record pace set last year. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout value was $95.36, with an 18 cent pop. USDA estimates the week to date FI hog slaughter at 1.954 million head. That is even with the same week last year.

--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management