Prepared and written by Jeff Swenson, DATCP Livestock and Meat Specialist. The Market Update draws information from several sources, including trade publications, radio broadcasts, agricultural news services, individuals involved in the industry as well as USDA NASS and AMS reports.
Hogs
Cash hogs were $23 higher last week with a lean carcass price of $88.47/cwt. The pork cutout value showed modest strength, increasing 86 cents to average $97.97. Lower primal prices are dragging the cutout value lower this week, however. Lean hog futures posted seven straight days of lower prices through Wednesday of this week and that is causing concern among traders and pig farmers. The average retail price of pork in March was $4.87/pound, 8 cents lower than last year. Domestic pork demand has been good and exports remain strong. An increase in demand, foreign or domestic, will go a long way to underpin hog prices. Harvest is running just over 1% below last year with pork production about a half a percent less than 2025 year-to-date. Last week’s estimated harvest of 2.472 million hogs was 76,000 more than the previous week and 5,000 fewer than a year ago.
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