The agreement worked out this week in Europe to try to resolve the Greek financial crisis resulted in a sharp rise in the value of the Euro and a drop in the value of the dollar. That should be good news for U.S. export competitiveness.

The amount of pork in cold storage at the end of September was up 11 percent from the month before and up 16 percent from a year ago. There is a growing correlation between stocks of frozen pork and pork exports. During the first 8 months of 2011 pork exports were up 18.7 percent.

Chinese hog producers are battling several disease problems including food and mouth disease. Chinese pork prices are very high which is boosting their pork imports. USDA is predicting China will import one-third more pork this year than last.

USDA’s Thursday afternoon calculated pork cutout value was $97.02 per cwt., down $2.38 from the previous Thursday. Loins, butts and bellies were lower. Ham prices were higher.

Hog prices dropped this week. The national average negotiated carcass price for direct delivered hogs on the morning report today was $87.35 per cwt., down $3.72 from last Friday. The Friday morning price report for the Western Corn Belt was $87.88 per cwt. There were not enough early morning sales in Iowa-Minnesota for a price quote. Eastern Corn Belt hogs averaged $87.11 this morning. Friday’s top live hog price at Peoria was $59 per cwt. Zumbrota, Minn.’s top was $61 per cwt. The top for interior Missouri live hogs was $64.50 per cwt., down $1.50 from the previous Friday.

Both pork cutout and hog prices have been remarkably high this fall. The normal season pattern is for a 15 percent drop in pork cutout from early September to late October. This week’s hog prices and pork cutout value are both higher than in early September.

Hog slaughter totaled 2.306 million head this week, down 0.7 percent from the week before and down 0.2 percent compared to the same week last year. This is the second consecutive week with hog slaughter below year-ago. The September inventory survey indicated daily hog slaughter should average be up a bit less than 1 percent during the fourth quarter.

Barrow and gilt carcass weights for the week ending Oct. 15 averaged 202 pounds, unchanged from the week before and down one pound from a year ago. Iowa-Minnesota live weights for barrows and gilts last week averaged 273.3 pounds, up 1 pound from the week before, but down 2 pounds compared to last year. Perhaps the strong hog prices this fall have helped keep hog marketings very current.

Today’s close for the December lean hog futures contract, $86.67 per cwt., was down $2.98 from last Friday. The February lean hog futures contract settled at $89.90 per cwt., down $2.12 from the previous Friday. April lost $2.50 this week to settle at $92.25 per cwt.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Ron Plain may write to him in care of this publication.