Hogs ended mostly lower on Thursday, with all-time highs in cattle and grains mostly higher as well.
Lean Hogs Consolidate Thursday After Recent Rally
Jeff Hoogendoorn, with Professional Ag Marketing, says lean hogs ended mixed to lower on Thursday with August seeing some profit taking after making new highs for the move early in the session. August hogs have been on a big rally gaining nearly $7 in seven sessions.
The consolidation came despite a positive call between President Trump and Chinese President Xi earlier in the day and decent weekly pork exports at 36,400 MT, with a sale of 12,700 MT to China.
Hoogendoorn was at World Pork Expo and says there is optimism about the hog market with the recent rally which has been pushed by higher cash and cutouts.
The CME lean hog index is up another 82 cents to $97.57 as of June 4. Pork cutout firmed $1.50 to $108.12 on Thursday. Both are trading at their highest levels since August 2023.
Packers cut kills the last few weeks he says and cutouts responded moving above $107, but at the same time there’s not an excess supply of hogs.
The deferred lean hog contracts just made new contract highs with disease concerns in production areas like Iowa, mostly due to PEDV.
Hoogendoorn says these prices are offering some profitable levels for hog producers all the way down the futures board.
Cattle Futures Explode To All-Time Highs
Cattle futures made all time highs in both live and feeder cattle offerings.
Funds stepped back in to buy with the steep futures discount to more record cash cattle trade.
Cash broke in the South already Wednesday at $225 to $228, up $3 to $6 from last week and there were some trades at $230 in Kansas before the close on Thursday.
Later in the afternoon light cash cattle trade developed in Texas at $232, up $10 from last week’s weighted average.
Light trade was also reported in Nebraska with dressed sales at $380, up $13 from last week’s weighted averages. Live deals at $240, up $5.
Soybeans React to Positive Trump/Xi Call
Soybeans saw gains Thursday, supported by positive news that Trump and Xi’s conversation went well.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that he and President Xi had a “very good” phone call and “resulted in a very positive conclusion for both countries.” Next steps involve a meeting between the countries respective teams with Secretary of the Treasury Bessent leading the U.S. team.
The market also saw additional fund and technical buying but was stopped short running into resistance with several moving averages layered overhead on the charts.
Corn Bounces After July Hits New Lows
Corn was higher as well with spillover from higher soybeans and still adding some weather premium.
However, July made a new low for the move and hit a level not seen since October of 2024, before bouncing.
Bear spreading continued to be a feature in the corn market with December gaining on July.
Despite a tight 1.4 billion bu. carryover, Hoogendoorn says the market is telling farmers there is no concern about running out of corn.
He says some of that pressure is coming from the big crop and much lower corn prices in South America.
