Cash came in mostly steady yesterday after being called lower. Aug hogs went off the board in quiet fashion at $84.45. The cutout was down .33 at $94.11. While the product has certainly been struggling of late, at the same time the cutout value has not cratered. Packer processing margins, in the middle of Aug remain very positive. Two new plants will be coming on-line in a couple of weeks. Starting slow at first and gradually ramping up their production schedules. These plants are also planning second shifts to come on-line in the first half of next year. All in all, in the next few months, total hog slaughter capacity may increase by as much as 11%. Outstanding demand for U.S. pork is the common denominator that has encouraged these players to invest millions of dollars. Pork demand is powerful strong on both the domestic market and on the export front. This week’s hog kill is projected to be 2.312 million pigs, up about 2% from last week and up less than 1% from last year. We are bullish and looking (hoping) for weakness in the Oct to begin assuming bullish positions.

Everyone has bullish positions on in Oct except Me! Sold more this morning. DH, as you can see Dennis is very friendly the Oct hog contract. This looks like the year when hogs learned to fly!

Dewey