US hogs rally after contract lows

Lean hog futures rallied at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange ( on Friday after falling earlier to contract lows under pressure from increased US production, reported Reuters. Cattle futures also climbed. A rise in wholesale prices for US pork helped trigger the turnaround in hogs, analysts said. The US Department of Agriculture priced the pork carcass cutout at $101.35 per hundredweight (cwt), up $4.33 from Thursday. Pork bellies climbed by $16.58, after a volatile week of trading. "We hit the contract lows and rallied into the close," said Austin Schroeder, analyst at Brugler Marketing & Management. CME July hogs closed 0.875 cent higher at 93.650 cents per pound after sinking earlier to 90.4 cents, the lowest level since Jan. 4. The contract ended about 0.2% higher for the week, after falling for the previous seven weeks. Deferred futures, including the August, October and December contracts, set contract lows. Ample US supplies and technical selling weighed on prices before the ...