This adds to concerns expressed in the spring that there won’t
be enough packing-plant capacity to handle all of the pigs.
USDA’s Sept. 1 survey puts the hog inventory at 64.8 million
head, up by three per cent from last year, up by four per cent from last
quarter and nearly two per cent above what analysts were expecting, based on a
pre-report survey by Urner Barry.
The June-August 2016 pig crop, at 32.0 million head, was up
by two per cent from 2015 and more than two per cent above what analysts had
expected.
“Each of the last four pigs crops has been record high. The
last is the highest ever for any quarter,” said Bob Brown on a National Pork
Board-sponsored teleconference after the report was issued.
“That portends record high slaughter for the foreseeable
future.”
