Lean hog futures ended trading lower across most contracts on Wednesday, May 21. The contracts closed between 17 cents and $1 down for most months. The United States Department of Agriculture reported the national base hog price at $93.76 in the afternoon, which is a decrease of $1.11 from the previous day.
The pork carcass cutout value also dropped by $1.41 to reach $95.47 per hundredweight, according to the USDA’s Wednesday PM report. Among primal cuts, only the butt was reported higher for the session.
The USDA estimated federally inspected hog slaughter at 482,000 head for Wednesday, bringing the week-to-date total to 1.421 million head. This figure is down by 8,000 compared to last week and is also lower by 24,713 head compared to the same period last year.
For individual contract closings: June 2026 hogs settled at $97.275, down $0.650; July closed at $101.975, down $0.175; and August finished at $101.825, a decrease of $0.275.
According to Barchart’s disclosure policy included in this report: “On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article.” All information presented serves informational purposes only.
