May 29, 2006

Pork demand falls in the US while exports rising

While consumer pork demand is lacklustre in the US, falling 6.2 percent in the first quarter compared to last year's levels, live demand is suffering a less serious slide of 2.9 percent due to exports, according to industry sources.

Growth in the pork sector is expected to be halved compared with 2004 and 2005 because US consumers are moving away from high protein diets.

However, this loss is partially offset by increased pork exports.

Cold storage stocks in April this year were down 8 percent from last year's levels while belly stocks were down 25 percent.

Gilt slaughter and sow slaughter since early March remained similar to last year's levels, indicating that hog producers are probably not changing the herd size very much. Slow growth in the sow herd is expected.