CHICAGO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures set life-of-contract lows on Monday as plentiful supplies and weak demand continued to weigh on prices.
The market has tumbled since July because of poor cash prices for hogs and slumping wholesale pork prices, analysts said. Futures are oversold due to the losses, though it is not clear when they will begin to recover, they said.
CME December lean hog futures ended down 0.70 cent at 58.175 cents per pound and set a contract low of 57.775 cents. April 2027 futures also set a contract low.
Analysts said domestic and export demand for pork was struggling. China, the world's biggest pork consumer, is grappling with an oversupply of hogs that is hurting US pork exports.
"It's hard for them to import pork from the US or from most suppliers and turn a profit on it, with so much low-priced domestic product in the market," said Joe Schuele, spokesman for the industry group US Meat Export Federation.