CoBank said the United States pork sector remains remarkably steady, despite labor and economic headwinds.
The same is true for Canadian hog farmers whose margins have been in the black so far this summer.
As of June 1, total hogs available for market were down only 0.1 per cent year-over-year, and the breeding herd held steady at 5.98 million head, said the CoBank report.
Dressed hog weights averaged 216 pounds per head, helping secure pork supply into summer.
Lean hog futures surpassed $112 per hundredweight in June, the highest since July 2022. Pork carcass cutout values averaged $103 per hundredweight this spring, boosted by belly and ham prices.
Belly prices have gone up by 18.7 per cent so far thgis year and ham prices increased by 6.4 per cent.
Despite softer feed costs, herd expansion has been limited by tight processing capacity, labor shortages, and high capital costs. Automation and technology are seen as essential to help fill labor gaps across the protein sector, CoBank said.
