Lean hog futures closed with 10 to 95 cent losses on Thursday, with Feb the weakest. The CME Lean Hog Index was back up 4 cents to $66.71 on 12/1. USDA’s National Average Base Hog price for Thursday PM was $55.88, down 81 cents. Pork Cutout futures remain thinly traded and fell 27 to 67 cents on the day. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout value was $76.45 in the PM report, down $3.41. Hams fell $13.58 on the day, and bellies were down $7.86. USDA reported a 3-week high for pork export sales. The 31,269 MT booked on the week was up 65% on the week and 2% yr/yr. The top purchaser was China with 24% of the total. China’s YTD pork commitments are 36.4% of the total 2.014 MMT. USDA’s FI hog slaughter for the week through Thursday was 1.967 million head. That trails last year by 19,000 head.  

 --- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management