U.S. Cash Hog Bids Steady As Plants Well-Supplied
November 27 2015 - 10:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Kelsey Gee
CHICAGO--U.S. packer bids for hogs are mostly steady with
Wednesday's sales on Friday, with most plants well-supplied for
production needs for the remainder of the week.
Bids match prices paid in the sales prior to the Thanksgiving
holiday, and Wednesday's top prices ranged from $35 to $41 per
hundredweight on a live basis, and from $47 to $52 per
hundredweight on a carcass basis--a form of pricing that accounts
for the meat yielded from the animal.
Bids for livestock have remained in a narrow range in the past
week as packers restricted production around the Thanksgiving
holiday, with most plants remaining dark on Thursday. Packers
Friday are offering steady prices in most regions, after securing
the bulk of the hogs needed for the weekend's production earlier in
the week.
Projections for Saturday's load of hogs to be processed total
373,000 head, up around 170,000 head from last weekend's estimated
production, as plants add extra shifts to make up for the reduced
slaughter on Thursday. For the week, an estimated 2.121 million
head are expected to have been processed.
Last week, U.S. pork output was estimated to have climbed to
510.5 million pounds, up 6% from this time last year, and total
year-to-date production has surpassed 2014 levels by 7.1%. The
total number of hogs processed last week exceeded the same period
last year by 7%.
The last available Wall Street Journal packer margin index for
Wednesday was positive $36.81 per head, compared with positive
$40.25 a head on Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday the
wholesale pork price, known in the industry as the cutout, slid
$1.75 to $71.31 per hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price
quotes.
Write to Kelsey Gee at kelsey.gee@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 27, 2015 09:56 ET (14:56 GMT)
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