Packers are maintaining bids at $108.00 live in the south against asking prices of mostly $112.00. Much will depend on the direction of futures today and tomorrow.

The choice cutout was up $0.89 last night at $170.45, with the select up $0.21 at $169.54.

Volume of cuts was extremely light for a Wednesday. While buyers stepped in strongly last week on the discounting, they have backed away as prices moved higher again. With oil surging over $100/bl, buyers are cautious about consumer demand.

HOGS

Hog market calls are mostly steady this morning, though firm tones are present in some areas for next week's hogs. Saturday's slaughter are now about 50 thsd head, up from 35 thsd head at the start of the week.Positive packer margins are leading to better demand for hogs for next week.

The pork cutout gained $0.69 last night. Butts were quoted as 3-5 cents lower. Loins were mixed. Hams were 2 cents higher. Bellies were unquoted by the USDA, but were said to be firm by other sources. The ideas yesterday morning of a setback seem to have disappeared.

Tuesday night's weekly CME out of town report showed an out-movement of 35 thsd lbs compared to an in-movement of 300 thsd lbs last year. Stocks now total 59.009 mill lbs compared to 33.019 mill lbs last year. Note that stocks in CME approved warehouses are consistently larger than in the USDA report. The bellies are out there, they just are not in USDA reporting warehouses.

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TJE Cash trade information provided by Robin Fuller