The director of risk management with Hams Marketing Services says most of the forward hog contracts were at or near contract highs to start the new year.
"We're a shade lower than what we would have been for the forward contract prices this time last year, given the fact that we're dealing with a significantly larger supply and there's some questions on demand," he said. "I think we're in pretty good shape. It definitely represents good profitability for producers for most of the year."
Fulton adds U.S. cash markets are expected to trade near steady in the post-holiday period.
"We're just coming off of the two short holiday slaughter weeks, which typically has a bit of a negative implication on cash prices, but producers were very current going into the holiday period. Their hog weights indicated that they were not behind in their marketings, and packers were very aggressive in sourcing those hogs. In fact, we saw likely the two biggest hog slaughters that we have ever seen in the two weeks leading up to Christmas."
Source : Steinbachonline