Pork Checkoff Industry News

Potential for easing of tariffs, higher prices for competing proteins and seasonal supply decline have induced speculators to bolster bullish bets in the hog market.

Hog slaughter declined below 2.4 million last week as some plants were closed for Good Friday. This week slaughter is expected to be around 2.4 million again due to lower processing on Monday.

The tariff war is in its early days, but markets are already reacting, and global trade dynamics are shifting quickly.

The USDA ‘Hogs and Pigs’ survey results will be released on Thursday, March 27. We expect only a very modest increase in the breeding herd and hog supply as of March 1 up 1.5% vs. a year ago.

Lean hog futures remain volatile, with 7 up or down moves of +5% since the start of the year.

Lean hog futures have been volatile in the last three months as market participants try to price the potential impact of tariffs on Mexico and Canada while also recognizing that spot supply is lower than expected.

Slaughter continues to fall short of expectations, and in turn that has limited spot availability across a range of products.

Winter storms impacted slaughter operations and limited processing last week. The decline in slaughter impacted spot market availability towards the end of the week, pressuring prices higher across a range of products.

Hog futures have been volatile, in part due to rush of speculative interest in the last quarter of 2024. Market participants now are looking to see how well pork demand holds up to start the year.

Hogs and Pigs inventory implies higher slaughter starting in the spring and through the end of 2025. Report accuracy has come into question, however, and injected more uncertainty going forward.