August 17, 2007

 

Canada's July 1 hog inventory down from year ago

 

 

Canada's hog inventories as of July 1, 2007, totalled 14.693 million head, down from 15.065 million at the same time a year ago and the April 1 total of 14.729 million, figures released by Statistics Canada on August 16 revealed.

 

The government agency said hog prices weakened in the fall of 2005, and have remained relatively low. Although the prices trended up during the first few months of 2007, they are still well below the same period in 2005. Prices as of May 2007 were about 13.2 percent below the comparable period in 2005, Statistics Canada said.

 

Hog producers have faced dramatically higher feed grain prices in recent months as well, with some of that fuelled by the use of corn for the production of ethanol, the agency said.

 

Hog inventories in Eastern Canada fell 3.0 percent, relatively faster than the 1.8 percent decline seen in the West.

 

Exports of Canadian hogs, principally to the US, were up 10.7 percent in the first half of 2007 in comparison to the same period a year ago, Statistics Canada said. At the same, domestic hog slaughter declined by 3.1 percent.

 

According to the Census of Agriculture, there were 11,497 farms reporting hogs in 2006, down 25.7 percent from 2001.

 

Census data also showed that hog operations increased in size. The average Canadian hog producer had 1,308 head of hogs in 2006, up 45 percent from 2001.

 

Manitoba had the largest hog operations in Canada, the Census data showed. The average number of hogs in each farm soared 62.1 percent from 1,523 in 2001 to 2,468 in 2006.

 

The following are the quarterly figures of pigs on farm.

               

July 1 inventory	Figures in 000 head	Percentage from 2007/06
All Hogs and Pigs	14,693.20	97.5
Breeding Stock	1,570.80	99
Sows & Bred Gilts	1,537.70	99.1
Boars, 6 months & over	32.9	96.5
All other pigs	13,122.60	97.4
under 20 kg	4,746.00	103.9
20-60 kg	4,166.70	89.8
over 60-kg	4,209.90	98.8

                                      Source: Statistics Canada

  

April 1, 2007 inventory

 

	Figures in 000 head	PERCENT
All Hogs and Pigs	14,728.90	98
Breeding Stock	1,570.60	98.4
Sows & Bred Gilts	1,537.70	98.4
Boars, 6 months & over	32.9	95.9
All other pigs	13,158.20	97.9
under 20 kg	4,750.40	104.8
20-60 kg	4,152.00	89.9
over 60 kg	4,255.80	99.3

                                     Source: Statistics Canada

 

January 1, 2007 inventory

                                      Source: Statistics Canada