CME update: livestock supplies push hog futures lower
US lean hog futures ended mostly lower on 7 July following pressure from abundant supplies.
8 July 2020
2 minute read
By: Reuters reports that CME August lean hogs ended down 0.400 cent at 48.875 cents per pound. October hogs closed 0.425 cent lower at 48.625 cents per pound.
The United States has plenty of pigs after farmers and ranchers expanded herds. Processors like Tyson Foods Inc and Brazilian-owned JBS USA are working through supplies that backed up in farms when meat plants temporarily closed in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. Slaughterhouses have since reopened, although many are working at reduced capacities because workers are absent and operators implemented social distancing measures.
There were more than 17,000 COVID-19 cases and nearly 100 deaths among US meatpacking workers in April and May, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released on Tuesday.
Meat companies slaughtered an estimated 469,000 hogs on Tuesday 7 July, compared to as many as 498,000 a day in March according to USDA data.
Margins fell to $60.25 per hog from $61.70 a week ago for pork packers according to livestock marketing advisory service HedgersEdge.com.
