Things to Consider…. US federally inspected hog slaughter was reported at 2,531 thousand head: down -5.7% from a week earlier, +3.9% over the same week last year and +2.8% over last year-to-date. US sow slaughter for the week ending Jan 7th was up 7,700 head or +16.1% from the prior week to 55,700 head, which is -3.3% under last year. US pork production for the week fell -5.2% or 30.2 million pounds down to 550.7 million pounds in the holiday-shortened week, bringing overall production +3.1% over last year and +2.2% compared to last year-to-date. Weekly average barrow and gilt weights in the ISM reporting area for the week ending Jan 21st was reported at 289.1 lbs, down 0.9 of a pound or -0.3% from a week earlier and -0.8% under year ago levels. Year-to-date, hog weights are -0.5% under the same weeks in 2022. Canadian federally inspected market hog slaughter for the week ending January 14th at 422.5 thousand head rose 71.9 thousand or +20.5% from the week previous (a holiday-shortened week), and was +4.0% over last year but -1.6% under last year-to-date. Canadian sow slaughter was reported at 2,107 head for the same week, rising +25.9% from the week previous. Compared to last year, Canadian sow slaughter is +43.3% over the same week last year (a holiday week) and is +21.9% over last year-to-date. Canadian pork production numbers are estimates derived from current slaughter rates and an annual average Canadian slaughter hog weight. Based on the latest slaughter rates Canadian weekly pork production was up +20.5% on the week, but is -0.1% under year-ago levels and -5.5% under last year-to-date. |