000850 Lean Hog Future Prices RiseAugust 20, 2000Chicago - Lean hog futures prices rose 1.2% last Thursday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, posting their first gains of the week. But the rally was strictly technical and analysts said only improved exports can keep the market up. In other markets, sugar prices fell 1.2% and cotton rose 1.2%. Lean hog prices had been falling for several days, as the market struggled to strike a balance between supply and demand. Inventory levels have been high, indicating a dwindling interest in pork products. But analysts said the market reached a balance Thursday due to technical trading and an outbreak of swine fever in Britain. “The swine fever helped on the demand side of things,” said Don Roose, president of the Des Moines, Iowa-based U.S. Commodities Inc. “We've reached a price level where demand will pick up. We're in a balance position here.” Lean hogs for October delivery rose .65 cent to 53.07 cents a pound and February pork bellies rose 1.37 cents to 66.67 cents a pound. Dave Maher, president of the Ely, Iowa-based Dave Maher and Associates, said domestic interest likely will not increase, and the market must target export business to maintain the balance. “We keep waiting for the retailer to step in and do some type of buying for the holiday coming up, but so far that hasn't happened,” Maher said. “We've done everything we can to pick up consumer business. Now we have to work on picking up the export business.” Maher said that while Britain's swine fever outbreak might increase export demand, it also is likely that Europeans will follow the American pork consumption trend. “Normally, when you have those problems overseas, the consumers in those countries just quit eating pork,” he said.
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