June 12, 2008
 

Canadian pork exports to decline in 2008 

 

Canada's pork exports are expected to decline during calendar year 2008 while shipments of Canadian weanling and feeder pigs increase, according to an official with the Canadian Pork Council.

Shipments of fresh, chilled and frozen pork to all destinations during the first quarter of 2008 have proceeded at a good pace but it would not last, said Martin Rice, an executive director with the Canadian Pork Council.

 

He said sales of Canadian pork to the end of March 2008 totaled 261,000 tonnes, which was up about 2 percent from 256,000 tonnes during the same period in 2007.

 

The pace would slow as there will be fewer hogs to slaughter as the amount of weanling and feeder pig shipments to the US continues to grow, Rice said, noting that the economics of finishing pigs in Canada is no longer feasible.

 

Rice forecast Canadian exports of fresh, chilled and frozen pork to all destinations during calendar-year 2008 to be down 5 percent to around 950,000 tonnes.

 

The US remains the main buyer for Canadian pork, with Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan as other key markets.

 

Japan's re-opening of its market to US beef would also dampen exports of Canadian pork to the country.

 

Rice said the downturn seen in beef consumption in Japan with the outbreak of mad cow disease in the US in 2003 and the subsequent shift to pork is now ending. Consumers are now shifting back to beef, Rice added.

 

Meanwhile, Canada's weanling and feeder pig shipments to the US during calendar year 2008 are projected to be above 7.0 million head, up from the 6.7 million that were shipped to the US during 2007.

 

Rice said that with increased Canadian shipments of weanling and feeder pigs to the US, imports of US fresh, chilled and frozen pork products back into Canada should be up again during 2008.

 

Canadian imports of US pork have more than doubled in the past eight years, jumping from 61,000 tonnes in 2000 to 162,000 tonnes in 2007. In 1991, that figure was just 12,000 tonnes.

 

Much of Canada's pork shipments into the US were for the US processing industry while shipments of US pork into Canada were mainly for the retail sector, Rice said.

 

At the same time, supermarket chains in Canada that sell only US pork have been growing, further limiting options for Canadian hog farmers.

 

Hog-slaughter capacity in Canada as of November 2007 totaled around 455,000 head a week, Rice said, a 9-percent drop from 2006 levels.