current live hog price
However, with more pigs per litter and heavier weights, pork production is expected to be only about one percent smaller. Live hog prices in 2015 averaged $50.23 per hundredweight for 51 percent to 52 percent lean carcasses, according to USDA. My current forecast is that prices will be in a range of $49 to $54 for all of 2016, about $1 higher than last year. Live weight prices averaged about $46 in the first quarter of this year. Prices are expected to rise to the $55 to $58 range for averages in the second and third quarters and finish the year in the mid-to-higher $40s. Hog prices stand ready to make their normal seasonal rally into the early summer.