USA: Week 21 Pig Market Review 2022

Pig futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) rose on Thursday to their highest level in more than a month, helped by strong exports and fears of a slowdown in slaughter. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Thursday morning that pork EXPORT sales for the week ended May 19 were 36,800 tons, up 52% ​​from a week earlier. Traders said demand could pick up even more as CHINA looks to lift some of the COVID-19- related lockdowns .

At the same time, shipments may be lower as slaughter volumes slowed ahead of Memorial Day in the US.

Pig prices have been fluctuating sideways for several weeks now. In mid-February, hog prices (the national weighted average base price per carcass) were $92.75 per centner, and from that point on, weekly prices averaged about $98, with an annual high of $99.99 in the last week of April. . Prices finally hit $100 per centner last week, with the average weekly price likely to top $101. Compared to the same week last year, prices have fallen by about 7%.

This decline is of some concern. Post-COVID production costs have been unprecedented and led to a significant increase in pork prices last year. The difficulty was to determine whether consumer spending at the retail level was sustainable, and to some extent it still is. Inflationary pressures and record pork prices have begun to affect consumer spending, and many have begun to rethink their purchases and spending, and perhaps ditch the more expensive meats.

Rising stocks of cold stored pork contributed to an increase in the amount of red MEAT in cold stores in April. For the month, the stock of pork in cold stores was 530.2 million pounds, up 16% from last year and the highest level since April 2020. Typical levels for April are around 600 million pounds. Korean was the only category that showed a decrease (-6%) compared to last year. It is noteworthy that the stocks of bacon and ham on the bone in April increased in the range from 42% to 67%.

 You can learn more about the state of the US pig market, as well as the prices for pigs and pork on the American (and not only) market, in the weekly reviews of the meat market in RUSSIA and in the world from Meatinfo.ru.

Weekly reviews are available free of charge as part of a subscription to the monthly analytics of the Russian meat markets.

Average price for pigs

Negotiated price

Price in carcass weight

Price in live weight

National based LM_HG203:

-price range ($)

- weighted average. price

-Change from the day before

-volume of sales

100.00-116.50

109.68

-1.67

4736

There is no data

Iowa/Minnesota LM_HG206:

- weighted average. price

113.21 (+0.14)

There is no data

Western Corn Belt LM_HG212:

- weighted average. price

113.77 (-0.48)

There is no data

Eastern Corn Belt LM_HG210:

- weighted average. price

There is no data

There is no data

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE PRICE FOR PIGS

Weekly approximate volume of slaughter of pigs, thousand heads

PORK PRODUCTION