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Hog price support could be dwindling

A livestock economist says the recent support in hog prices could be waning.

University of Missouri’s Scott Brown says hog prices took off as Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas at the same time as the number of reported cases of African Swine Fever in China began to increase.  “That certainly provided some strength to prices knowing supplies were going to be a little tighter,” he says.

But, he tells Brownfield those same factors could also contribute to a drop in the market.  “If we don’t see a large impact from African Swine Fever in China, that certainly is a way to look for some downside risk in those markets,” he says.  “We could adjust (prices) downward.  We have fairly large runs of hogs here for the remainder of 2018 and into 2019.”

He says both domestic and international demand will be crucial to support prices with the amount of pork entering the market.