July 10, 2006

 

US wholesale pork prices off 6.7 percent from 23-month high

 

 

The USDA's pork carcass composite value, commonly known as the pork cutout or wholesale, Friday (Jul 7) was up US$0.66 per hundredweight from Thursday but off US$5.49, or 6.7 percent, from the 23-month high hit on Jun 23.

 

USDA reported the cutout value at USUS$76.99 Friday afternoon.

 

Despite the recent slide, the cutout finished the week slightly above its average for the month of June, which was US$76.94. For the first half of 2006, the daily figure averaged US$64.93.

 

A decline in slaughter-ready hog supplies in June plus stout demand for certain pork cuts along with other meats heading into the Independence Day holiday period helped push wholesale pork prices up to US$82.48 on Jun 23. That was the highest the cutout had been since July 13, 2004.

 

In the cattle/beef sector, cow slaughter for the year through the week ended Jun 17 was 3.9 percent above a year ago, said Ron Plain and Glenn Grimes, agricultural economists at the University of Missouri, in their weekly cattle outlook. Dairy cow slaughter for the same period was off 1 percent, while beef cow slaughter was up nearly 10 percent, they said.

 

In the latest four-week period ending Jun 17, total cow slaughter was up 11.6 percent, dairy cow slaughter was up 7.5 percent and beef cow slaughter was up 14.7 percent, the University of Missouri economists said.

 

"This level of cow slaughter will slow the build-up in the cow herd and may stop the build-up completely if beneficial rain is not received in the near future for much of the southwest United States and relatively dry areas in some other beef country," they said.

 

The USDA estimated this week's cattle slaughter at 594,000 head, compared with 701,000 a week ago and 557,000 a year ago. Year-to-date cattle slaughter is 16.992 million head, up 4.0 percent from 16.334 million a year ago.

 

This week's hog slaughter was at 1.64 million, compared with 1.85 million a week ago and 1.62 million a year ago. Hog slaughter for the year to date was estimated at 52.030 million head, similar to year-ago levels.

 

 

The USDA estimated total beef, pork and lamb production for the week at 790.8 million pounds, compared with 915.4 million last week and 754.0 million a year ago. Year-to-date combined meat output is 23.841 billion pounds, up 3.9 percent from the 22.941 billion pounds produced a year ago.

 

Broiler/fryer slaughter this week was estimated at 139.118 million head, compared with 168.518 million a week ago and 148.211 million a year ago.