LIVESTOCK-Hog futures drop on plentiful supplies, live cattle steady to weak

1/27/2023

CHICAGO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - U.S. hog futures eased on Friday, with ample supplies weighing on prices due to a heavy pace of slaughter this year.

Live cattle futures were steady to weak in range-bound trade, with light activity in the cash market hanging over prices.

February lean hog futures dropped 1.15 cents to 75.875 cents per lb, but managed to stay above the 13-month low of 75.6 cents that the front-month contract hit on Thursday.

Most-active April hogs dropped 0.55 cent to 86.45 cents per lb. Technical support was noted at the contract's 10-day moving average.

For the week, April hog futures rose 0.8%, snapping a string of four straight weekly losses.

Hog slaughter has totaled 10.102 million head so far in January, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday. That was up 2.2% from the same period of 2022.

Separately, the USDA reported pork carcass prices at $79.04 per hundredweight (cwt) on Friday morning, $1.42 lower than the price on Thursday afternoon.

CME February live cattle settled unchanged at 156.725 cents per pound, and most-active April was up 0.3 cent to 160.825 cents per pound.

April live cattle futures posted a weekly gain of 0.6%.

CME March feeder cattle futures gained 0.625 cent to settle at 183.475 cents per pound. (Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Devika Syamnath)