Hog inventories

First quarter 2003

The number of hogs on Canadian farms has declined for the second consecutive quarter. As of April 1, the inventory of hogs on farms stood at 14.6 million head, down 0.7% from the beginning of the year, but up 1.0% from April 1, 2002.

Growth in the hog sector has been slowing following recent years of expansion that often averaged 5.0% annually.

Many hog producers have seen their profits diminish or have experienced losses as a result of soft prices for hogs and escalating feed costs. Following price declines in the United States, Canadian hog prices have fallen 30.0% since they peaked in the summer of 2001.

Inventories have dropped in all three Prairie provinces, where feed supplies have been limited because of two years of drought. In Ontario, where feed supplies are more plentiful, inventories continued to climb and stood 3.9% above April 1, 2002. Hog numbers remained stable in Quebec, Canada's major hog producing province. Expansion in Quebec has been limited by a two-year moratorium on hog production.

In Canada, a record 5.8 million hogs have been slaughtered in each of the past two quarters, coinciding with additional capacity and a drop in the number of slaugther pigs exported. Shipments of slaughter pigs to the United States declined to 1.8 million head in 2002, the smallest volume since 1996.

Hog inventories
April 1, 2003
	Breeding		Market hogs				Total hogs
	2003	2002-03	2003	2002-03	2003	2002-03	2003	2002-03
			Under 20 kg		20 kg and over
	'000 head	% change	'000 head	% change	'000 head	% change	'000 head	% change
Canada	1,554	2.0	4,386	3.1	8,626	-0.2	14,566	1.0
Atlantic	34	-8.5	105	-8.5	224	-5.1	363	-6.4
Quebec	423	1.9	1,285	2.4	2,572	-0.8	4,280	0.4
Ontario	416	6.3	1,106	5.6	2,193	2.6	3,715	3.9
East	873	3.5	2,496	3.3	4,988	0.5	8,358	1.6
Manitoba	335	1.5	908	6.5	1,498	-0.8	2,740	1.8
Sask.	114	-1.6	319	-2.1	778	-1.1	1,211	-1.4
Alberta	213	-0.9	615	0.4	1,272	-0.7	2,100	-0.4
B.C.	19	-3.1	49	0.6	91	-9.7	158	-6.0
West	681	0.1	1,890	2.8	3,638	-1.0	6,209	0.2

Available on CANSIM: table 003-0004

Information on methods and data quality available in the Integrated Meta Data Base: survey number 3461.

The view the full report Hog statistics (23-010-XIE) CLICK HERE

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Source: Statistics Canada - 29th April 2003