The pork cutout value on Friday morning was $131.04/cwt FOB the plants, gaining $8.39 from a week ago. All primal cuts were higher, with ribs advancing four percent, butts up six percent, and loins, hams, picnics and bellies strengthening by 7-8%.
The national average negotiated carcass price for direct delivered hogs on the morning report today was $122.60/cwt, up $12.13 (11%) from last Friday. Hogs in the eastern corn belt were at $119.35/cwt, with the western corn belt and Iowa-Minnesota hogs at $127.73/cwt. Peoria had a top live price this morning of $82/cwt, $8 higher than last week. The top for interior Missouri live hogs Friday was $86/cwt, with Zumbrota coming in at $87/cwt. The average hog carcass price was 93.6% of the cutout value.
Hog slaughter this week totaled 2.042 million head, up 0.9% from last week but down 6.3% compared to the same week last year. Year to date hog slaughter is trailing the 2013 level by 3.7%.
The average barrow and gilt live weight in Iowa-Minnesota last week was 283.0 pounds, up 0.9 pounds from a week earlier and up 6.0 pounds from a year ago.
Hog futures gained ground again this week. The April lean hog contract jumped $6.08 during the week to close at $125.37/cwt today. May hog futures ended the week at $125.95/cwt, up $2.15 from the week before. The June contract gained $2.32 for the week to close at $130.17. July closed at $126.35 for the week with August settling at 126.65/cwt.
Source: AGEBB