Lean hog futures closed out the Tuesday session with contracts down 5 to 45 cents in the nearbys and up a tick to 62 cents. The CME Lean Hog Index was reported at $84.35 on December 19, up 14 cents from the previous day.

Monday afternoon’s quarterly Hogs & Pigs report showed the December 1 inventory at 75.845 million head, a 0.51% increase from last year. Hogs kept for breeding was up just 5000 head at 6.004 million, as market hogs were up 0.54% at 68.841 million head. The September to November pig crop was up 2.03% at 35.238 million head, as the pigs per litter were up 2.2% at 11.92 ppl. Farrowing intentions for Dec-Feb are up 0.03% at 2.93 million head, with the March-May period up 1.37% at 2.953 million head.

November 30 pork stocks were 391.08 million lbs per NASS Cold Storage data, which was down 8.27% from last month and 5.91% vs. last year. That total was the lowest for any month since August 2010 and the tightest November total since 1997.

USDA’s FOB plant pork cutout report will not be out on Tuesday or Wednesday due to the holidays. The value was down $2.66 on Monday afternoon at $96.62 per cwt. 

Feb 25 Hogs  closed at $84.375, unch,,

Apr 25 Hogs  closed at $89.175, down $0.450

May 25 Hogs  closed at $93.250, down $0.075,