US Hog Market Review for Week 4, January 26, 2026

February lean pork futures closed at $87.85 on Wednesday. Pork futures paused after reaching a 3.5-month high on Tuesday. The premium held by futures over cash pork and the CME Index suggests traders expect the cash pork market to rally in the coming weeks.  

Lean pork futures closed Friday with contracts 10-25 cents lower. The February contract was up just 7 cents in week four, while the April contract was up 97 cents. On Friday afternoon, the USDA benchmark pork price settled at $83.56, up 47 cents from the previous day. The CME Lean Pork Price Index rose another 67 cents on January 21 to $83.07.

Export sales data showed that 33,249 tonnes of pork were sold in the week ending January 15. Shipments for the same week last year totaled 39,223 tonnes.

Cold storage warehouse inventory data for the month showed pork stocks at 390.55 million pounds as of December 31, down 1.5% from last year and the lowest December total since 1997.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the price of hog carcasses rose $1.13 on Friday evening to $95.75 per hundredweight. Only ribs declined. The USDA estimated the number of federally inspected hogs slaughtered at 2.484 million. This is 139,000 fewer than last week, but 10,192 more than the same week last year.

Likely price ranges for next week:

February Lean Pork Futures - $86.00 to $90.00, sideways to the upside

March soybean meal futures are trading between $288.40 and $306.90, with a sideways trend to the upside.

March corn futures are trading between $4.17 1/4 and $4.30, with a sideways trend to the downside.

For more information on the state of the US hog market, as well as on hog and pork prices in the US (and elsewhere), see Meatinfo.ru's weekly meat market reviews in Russia and around the world.

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Average price of pigs

Negotiable price

Price in slaughter weight

Price in live weight

On a national basis LM_HG203:

-price range ($)

- weighted average price

-Change compared to the previous day

-sales volume

79.00-86.00

83.56

+0.47

1001

55.00-66.15

59.34

956

Iowa/Minnesota LM_HG206:

- weighted average price

No data

No data

Western Corn Belt LM_HG212:

- weighted average price

No data

No data

Eastern Corn Belt LM_HG210:

- weighted average price

No data

No data

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE OF PIGS

Weekly estimated pig slaughter volume, thousand heads