November 13, 2009

The US Department of Agriculture will purchase another US$50 million of pork, the third supplemental purchase of the calendar year but the first in the new fiscal year which began Oct. 1.

In a news release Thursday (November 12), USDA said it will seek the lowest overall costs by surveying potential suppliers and publicly inviting bids to assure contracts are awarded to responsible bidders.

The purchase should help struggling pork producers, who have been mired in a two-year-long economic crisis, said the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) in a release commending USDA's action. Since September 2007, the US pork industry has lost US$5.4 billion, with producers losing an average of more than US$23 on each hog marketed, NPPC said.

"The pork purchase will help farmers greatly reduce their sow herd in a market where production costs continue to exceed market value," USDA said. "Each year, USDA purchases a variety of high-quality food products to support the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program," the release said. USDA also makes emergency food purchases for distribution to victims of natural disasters.

"NPPC is extremely grateful to Secretary [Tom] Vilsack for recognizing the plight of our producers and for taking action to help them," said Don Butler, NPPC president. "The pork purchase is an important step that will help our industry bring pork supply and demand back into balance and allow producers to continue providing consumers worldwide with economical, nutritious pork products."