Sustaining losses 😬

💸📉 Despite some reprieve in feed costs, pork producers are taking losses on open market hogs. Prices have dropped 20% from 2022 levels, and analysts expect tighter hog supplies by the late fourth quarter of this year.

     • Expectations for the second quarter of 2023 are that slaughter levels will drop below last year's rates and prices will firm. Lower consumption trends and larger-than-expected supplies of competing protein are also casting a shadow on pork prices. 

     • Not all's bad, though: analysts estimate that US pork exports will increase an overall 3% in 2023, due to the low cost of our meat in global markets. For more numbers and detailed information, click here.