The Canadian Pork Council's "Made in Canada Hog Price Formula Project" was discussed this week as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2019.

Speaking to Farmscape, Catherine Brodeur, the Vice President Economic Studies with Groupe Ageco, explains there is an interest in creating formulas to better reflect the premiums paid for Canadian pork over US pork in certain markets.

"We looked to asses the value of Canadian pork and the difference in the value of Canadian pork compared with the US pork in our main export markets as well as the North American market.

"We conducted interviews with buyers in Japan, China, Mexico and the US, buyers of Canadian and US pork to assess their perception of the value of the Canadian pork.

"We looked also to trade data to see if there was a premium for Canadian cuts over American cuts in those markets.

"In the Japanese market we observed a real premium for Canadian product over thee American product but, for the other markets, we can not pretend that the Canadian product is sold at premiums compared with the US product.

"Some buyers will prefer the Canadian product for a specific attribute they have in other markets but they will prefer the Canadian product if it's at the same price as the US product so we can not translate that into a premium for the Canadian product.

"The final report proposes three possible pricing options."

Brodeur says, because the of integration of the North American market Canadian prices should continue to include a US reference price and premiums to reflect the Japanese premium and Ractopamine free pork.