Boom, Bust & Beating the Hog Cycle

By Ray Snitynsky, published by Alberta Pork in their Spring 2003 Western Hog Journal. The growth of the hog industry over the past five years has been a boom in Manitoba. It has grown significantly and currently is responsible for over 17,000 jobs. This contributes to an annual total of over $860 million to the provincial economy.

30 June 2003

2 minute read

From

Spring 2003

The downside to the boom has been a loss of equity over the past 12 months as market prices have plummeted. Return per hog has fallen from a high of approximately $70 in June 2001 to a low of minus $60 during September 2002.

The focus of this presentation will be to identify ways of stabilizing and enhancing hog profits throughout the course of the hog cycle. This presentation will highlight some of the economic factors that cause the market to both boom and bust on a regular basis. The following chart (Chart 1) shows the hog price volatility that producers have experienced over the last 30 years.

There are 5 major reasons why hog prices tend to boom and bust...

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(Western Hog Journal Spring 2003)