Wednesday trades left lean hog futures within 32 cents of UNCH. August closed at $52.90 on Wednesday, with 8,459 contracts still open as of Tuesday. The 08/10 CME Lean Hog index was $53.79 up by another 78 cents. USDA’s National Average Afternoon Base Hog price for Wednesday was 26 cents stronger at $37.69. From the August WASDE report, USDA expects 2020 pork production will be 28.36b lbs. That is down 179m lbs from the July estimate, via a 140m cut in 3Q20 production. 2021 pork production is expected to increase 0.7% yr/yr to 28.57b lbs – UNCH from July. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout value was up $2.05 to $72.44. Hams were the largest mover, up $16.94 to $64.78. USDA estimates 1.396 million hogs slaughtered WTD through Wednesday. That trails the same week last year by 19k head.

--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management