A rush by producers to slaughter pigs due to high feed costs ballooned pork supplies in United States cold stores to a record level last month, reports Reuters.
The packers that own the pork are hoping for a windfall next year when bacon and pork prices will rise on the back of recent herd culling.
The United Stated Department of Agriculture will issue its September Cold Storage report on Monday. Analysts expect it will show pork supplies at about 620.3m lbs — the most ever for September and the fifth straight monthly gain.
"We have had some enormous slaughters and produced a mountain of pork," said Dan Norcini, an independent pig futures trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
"The question is whether or not there is really some actual demand there or whether packers are cramming it into storage with the expectation that hog numbers might fall off later in the winter."
The United States has more than 1,500 public and privately owned cold storage facilities with a combined capacity of almost 4 billion cubic feet. California, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have the most capacity, according to the United States Departmentof Agriculture.
Source: Pig World
Back to News Headlines