January 21, 2008

US reports slight retail price increase for pork

A significant increase in pork exports is expected due to low prices.

Fourth-quarter retail pork prices was at US$2.88 per pound, a 2.5-percent increase from 2007.

For 2007, retail prices were US$2.87 per pound, a 2.2-percent increase from 2006.

The wholesale-to-retail spread for 2007 was almost 4 percent greater than in 2006.

Higher costs of moving products through the supply chain to the consumer is a likely reason for the increase.

November exports are still going strong. Export forecast for US pork exports for November 2007 were 15.3 billion tonnes, a 16-percent increase from November 2007.

For January-November 2007, cumulative exports are 1.3 billion tonnes, a 4-percent increase from the same period in 2006. Top five destinations for US pork products in November were Japan, China, Mexico, Canada, and Russia, accounting for no less than 76 percent of the exports.

An abundance of domestic pork supplies and a continued competitive US dollar exchange rate have kept prices low, and USDA increased the 2008 pork export forecast to 1.7 billion tonnes, an increase of over 17 percent from 2007's forecast of 1.4 billion tonnes.