After a steady start to the morning, February hogs quickly turned down and spent the rest of the day trading in the red. At the close, February had given back all of Monday’s gains, while June marked an inside day. The CME’s cash hog index increased by $.66 to $63.92 versus December hogs at $64.275.
NASS has likely begun the process of surveying producers for the December Hogs and Pigs report, which this year will be released before the Christmas weekend. In September, producers told the USDA that they intended to farrow just over 3 Mil sows in the Sep-Nov quarter or a 1% increase over last year. Additionally, record large pigs per litter can be expected. The chart plots the very close relationship between Jun-Aug and Sep-Nov pigs per litter. Jun-Aug was record large at 10.65 pigs, and projects a similar figure for Sep-Nov. The record large pig yield along with sows farrowing at a 10 year high, will produce another massive quarterly pig crop.
