Hog production margins remain solid as the Negotiated Lean Carcass value gained $1/cwt last week to average $92.45/cwt leaving the estimated farrow-to-finish margin for the week at $51.37/head and about unchanged from the prior week. Feed costs for those market hogs averaged $76.49 compared to $90.34 a year earlier — a sharp improvement as both corn and meal prices were down.
Meal prices when last week’s market hogs were placed on the finishing floor (week ending Dec. 28, 2024) averaged $294.70/ton while corn prices averaged $4.19/bu. For those marketed during the first week of May a year earlier, meal prices averaged $434.60/ton and corn $4.46/bu. when those hogs were place (week ending Dec. 30, 2023).
Pork packer margins remain weak averaging - $6.41 per head last week with the pork cutout at $97.13 .
View the full Sterling Pork Profit Tracker for the week ending May 3.
The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.
(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)
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