The next installment of USDA’s quarterly “Hogs and Pigs” report will be released next week on March 25, so it is an appropriate time to just do a general review of the hog and pork market and where we stand relative to expectations.
First, hog supplies have been about 3% smaller than USDA’s December 1 market hog inventories would have implied and about 1.4% larger than what I had expected since December 1.
As for year-to-date (YTD) slaughter, be careful about the -3.8% figure being touted by some observers. That number is indeed from USDA’s Estimated Weekly Meat Production Under Federal Inspection (SJ LS712) report. While that report shows weekly data, the year-to-date computation is based on daily data and there have been two