Feeder Pigs, Market Hogs Lead Growth In US Imports From Canada
US - The feeder pig and barrow/gilt categories are leading the growth in total swine imports from Canada, with the portion of the total increase contributed by each of the two groups running only a few percentage points apart through late July, the latest data available.
9 August 2004
3 minute read
Late last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture discovered some errors have been occurring in the categorization of some market hogs and sows/boars shipped into the U.S. for slaughter.
After rechecking the figures for each category, the USDA downwardly revised the annual tally for the sow/boar category by nearly 112,000 head and the feeder pig group by approximately 19,300 while adding about 95,000 to the barrow and gilt column.
Using the revised weekly figures provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a comparison of the first 30 weeks of data from 2004 to the same period in 2003 showed total hog and pig imports so far this year were up nearly 1.2 million head, or 32%, from a year ago.
Feeder pig imports are up about 23% from a year ago and account for 51% of the year-on-year increase in total hogs and pigs from Canada. Barrow and gilt shipments from the northern neighbor so far in 2004 are a whopping 72% above a year ago and are nearly 48% of the increase in total swine imports. Sows, boars and other make up the balance of the year-on-year rise.
If the current year-to-date weekly average for imports is maintained through the balance of the year, the annual total would be in the area of 8.4 million head, surpassing the 2003 figure by about 1.0 million head, or 13.5%.
THIS WEEK'S ESTIMATED SLAUGHTERS, COMBINED MEAT PRODUCTION
This week's cattle slaughter was estimated at 625,000 head, compared with 634,000 a week ago and 720,000 a year ago. Year-to-date cattle slaughter is estimated at 19.505 million head, down 9.9% from a year ago.
Hog slaughter this week was estimated at 1.865 million, versus 1.896 million last week and 1.812 million last year. Year-to-date hog slaughter stands at 59.643 million, up 2.7% from a year ago.
This week's combined meat production - for beef and veal, pork and lamb/mutton - was estimated at 842.7 million pounds, versus 855.1 million last week and 894.1 million a year-ago. Combine meat output for the year is down 4.6% from a year ago.
Broiler slaughter this week was estimated at 159.673 million head, compared with 161.732 million a week ago and 160.883 million a year ago.
Source: eFeedLink - 9th August 2004
