Thursday saw triple digit gains for Oct and Dec, and losses for April and June. The CME Lean Hog Index for September 15 was another $1.07 higher to $66.42. USDA’s National Average Afternoon Base Hog price for Thursday were $1.60 stronger to $62.50. In IA/MN, the base hog price was $3.03 higher to $64.44. The weekly Export Sales report had pork bookings above 50k MT for the 4th time in 2020. Weekly pork export sales ending 9/10 totaled 50,568 MT, mainly to China (71% of the total). So far for 2020, China has been the destination for 38.3% of pork shipments, with 514k of the 1.343 MMT total. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout value was up $3.89 this afternoon to $87.03. The primal cuts strengthened, led by hams which were up $8.70 cwt. to $83.06. USDA estimates WTD hog slaughter is at 1.940 million head, down 14,000 from the same week last year. Carcass weights are coming in line with year ago.

--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management