Market News & Headlines >> USDA Provides Bullish Hogs and Pigs Report

Friday afternoon’s quarterly USDA Hogs and Pigs report looked mostly bullish for hog and pork prices as it pegged the June 1 hog herd and the market hog inventory below the range of trade expectations and showed a slight contraction of the sow herd.

USDA pegged all hogs and pigs as of June 1 at 95.3% of a year earlier, versus trade estimates averaging 97.1% in a range from 96.0%-98.9%, according to a survey of eight analysts by Reuters News Service. USDA did revise its June 2013 inventory up slightly.

USDA’s estimate of the number of hogs kept for breeding purposes came in at 99.5% of a year earlier, below trade estimates averaging 101.8% in a range from 101.0%-102.5% of a year earlier.

The agency put the June 1 market hog inventory at 94.9% of a year earlier against trade forecasts that averaged 96.8% in a range from 95.5%-98.6%.

The March-May pig crop came in at only 94.6% of a year earlier compared with trade estimates that averaged 97.7%. Which is a bit more bullish than it looks when you consider USDA revised its March-May 2013 pig crop downward slightly.

March-May sow farrowings were only 99.7% of a year earlier versus trade estimates averaging 102.8% and the number of pigs per litter was 94.9% of a year earlier just slightly above the average of expectations.