Hog slaughter for the week was 2.373 million head, only 3,000 head smaller than a year ago. This was the second largest weekly slaughter for this calendar year.

Pork supplies should continue to be large for the next couple of weeks but likely will fall short of the all time record levels established last year. Pork cutout values received a boost from seasonally better ham prices and were up 4.6 per cent from the week prior.