Front month lean hog futures are adding 47 to 82 cents to the downside at midday. The CME Lean Hog Index for the 27th was $1.20 lower at $76.27. USDA’s National Average Base Hog price for this AM was delayed from packer submission errors. The Wednesday PM price was $61.76. The National Pork Carcass Cutout value was $89.56 in the AM report, $5.04 higher. Bellies were the only primal cut quoted lower, and hams were the biggest mover. USDA’s Export Sales report had 28,971 MT of pork bookings on the week ending 10/22. Mexico and Japan were the top buyers, with Chinese business only accounting for 8.8% of the total. Pork exports were 14.5% above the same week last year with 37k MT. Accumulated shipments are 1.558 MMT, up 25% yr/yr, with 581,482 MT (37.3%) to China alone. USDA estimated the week’s FI hog slaughter at 1.471 million head through Wednesday. That compares to 1.457 million head last week and 1.459 million from the same week last year.

--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management