Hundredweight to Pounds Converter
| cwt | Long (UK) | Short (US) | The landing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 112 lb | 100 lb | the twelve-pound gap |
| 10 | 1,120 lb | 1,000 lb | a calf, roughly, either way |
| 20 | 2,240 lb | 2,000 lb | the long ton vs the short ton |
A hundredweight is either 112 pounds or 100 pounds, depending on which side of the Atlantic the paperwork came from - and the twelve-pound gap between the long (UK) and short (US) versions is exactly why cattle listings, grain futures and steel quotes translate badly between the two countries. Type either number and the converter lands both, pounds and kilograms.
The long version is the older arithmetic: eight stone of fourteen pounds, the medieval hundred that was never actually a hundred. The American colonies later simplified to an even 100 - and both empires kept the name while disagreeing about the number. The table runs both ladders from one hundredweight to the ton they build into.
How to use
- Type the hundredweight from a commodity listing and pick the dialect - long (UK, 112 lb) or short (US, 100 lb) - and pounds and kilograms land instantly.
- Cross-check the ton: twenty short hundredweight make the US ton of 2,000 pounds; twenty long hundredweight make the UK long ton of 2,240 - the same sentence with two different meanings.
- For old farm records and British livestock reports, assume long unless the document says net or short - the 112-pound version is the one history wrote first.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the UK hundredweight have 112 pounds?
Because it is eight stone - and the stone of fourteen pounds was the unit English markets actually weighed in. A 'hundred' that divided evenly by the stone had to be a multiple of fourteen, and 112 was the compromise centuries of wool and grain trade settled on. The hundredweight was never a hundred of anything except by aspiration; it was eight stones wearing a decimal costume.
What is the difference between long and short hundredweight?
Twelve pounds: the long (UK) hundredweight is 112 pounds, the short (US) is 100. Multiplied out, twenty long hundredweight make the long ton of 2,240 pounds while twenty short make the US ton of 2,000 - a 12 percent gap that persists in commodity markets. Grain, cattle and steel contracts say which they mean; newspapers usually do not, which is what this converter is for.
How many hundredweights are in a ton?
Twenty, in both systems - but the tons differ. The US short ton (2,000 pounds) is twenty short hundredweight; the UK long ton (2,240 pounds) is twenty long. The metric tonne of 1,000 kilograms sits between them and matches neither. A shipping quote priced per ton is ambiguous until the dialect is named, and the hundredweight is where the ambiguity starts.
Where is hundredweight still used today?
Commodity markets - US grain and cotton prices quote dollars per cwt, UK livestock auctions sell cattle per hundredweight (long), and freight tariffs occasionally price by it. The abbreviation cwt is the tell: when a report prices something per cwt without saying long or short, the market context decides - American exchanges mean 100 pounds, British farming means 112.
What is a hundredweight in kilograms?
The short hundredweight is 45.36 kilograms; the long is 50.80 - both are one twentieth of their respective tons, and both are quietly replaced by the metric quintal (exactly 100 kg) in countries that went decimal. Australia and Canada abandoned the unit entirely; the two hundredweights survive in exactly the places that still price in tons of their own definition.