The price levels for Boston butts were volatile ending slightly higher, demand remained fairly good, especially for boneless butts designated for out-front and export sales. Buyer interest for spareribs was moderate at best, especially for the lighter weight class. Price levels were steady to firm, total volume traded was slightly lower than the previous week. Shrinking packer margins caused them to cut slaughter numbers, which reduced supplies. This action, enabled packers to obtain higher prices for all processing items even when faced with limited domestic processor demand.
Packers continue to maintain a current to forward sold position on most items.
This allowed all tested markets to trend steady to higher in mostly thin tests. Most activity was on cheek meat which finished steady after trending higher the past few weeks. Demand was light to moderate for mostly light offerings. Trading was mostly very slow on pork variety meat markets this week. Even with lower slaughter numbers, most markets trended lower.