March 2, 2006

Bird flu a bane for US pork producers

The saying that one man's meat is another's poison certainly applies for the US pork industry now as US consumers buy up cheap poultry stockpiled in the US and ignore pork, whose prices remained relatively unchanged.

US poultry exports have been stockpiling since the bird flu scare lowered global consumption, resulting in a glut at home which lowered domestic prices, making it more attractive to consumers.

While pig producers in other countries are rejoicing over higher prices due to bird flu, pork producers in the US are seeing bird flu cutting into their bottom lines.

Although lower global consumption of poultry could be seen as an opportunity to export more US pork, Ronald Plain, an agricultural economics professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said it is not attractive to pork producers as they did not want to gain market share through lower prices.

Plain expected North American hog carcass values to fall in 2006, while US commercial hog slaughter will increase slightly. The six pork processing plants in the US that have either recently opened or are expected to begin construction will add slaughter capacity, he said.