Weekly Purcell Agricultural Commodity Market Report Wayne D. Purcell Agricultural and Applied Economics Virginia Tech

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There is some legitimacy to the better prices we are seeing in pork due to the BSE scare in beef, and the July lean hogs ran up to $69.15 before correcting to the downside last week.

The lean hogs look bullish, and we have seen a $12 rally since the lows around April 1. Sell to place short hedges if the July rallies back to the high near $69 that was recorded last week.

If we do not challenge that high, look for this market to dip to the $64 area across the May lows and then rally again.

After that correction, we will have a new and perhaps more relevant low to use to hook to the April lows to record a new uptrend line to guide short hedge placement.

Summer prices are always strong for hogs so let this market run to the upside to get to higher pricing objectives if you can and do not worry much about a precipitous break in hog prices.