That, along with August longs rolling into October, weighed front-months but assisted speculative hedgers in elevating distant contracts.

Pork complex anxiety was palpable the day before the federal government releases their quarterly hog report on Friday at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT). The data is expected to show hog herd expansion despite high corn prices. Analysts' forecasts for the top three report categories are as follows:

Average Range All hogs and pigs on June 1 101.4 100.5-102.5 Kept for breeding 100.5 100.0-100.9 Kept for marketing 101.3 100.2-102.7

Cash hog prices, which in some parts of the country were down more than more than $2 per hundredweight, was an indication to traders that packers were notin a position to chase supplies due to limp profit margins.

What's more, pork cut out's $1.15 lapse on Wednesday implies that meat groce rbuyers have on-hand needs met heading into next week's Independence Day holiday on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, short covering, July and August's discounts to CME's hog index, as well as both contracts' over sold chart conditions spared front months from further losses.