Farm Credit Canada said the outlook for Canada’s hog producers has improved since its market analysis six months ago.
“While still under pressure, hog margins are now looking better than they were at the start of the year," it said.
“Feed costs have fallen even faster than what we had anticipated back in January, with 2024 forecasts now tracking below the five-year average."
But that’s all in comparison with tough times.
Hog slaughter in Eastern Canada is down by 6.6 per cent, mainly because Olymel closed down some facilities. That also spilled more Quebec hogs into Ontario where farmers turned to the United States to find packers willing to take their market-ready hogs.
Between January and April, more than 561,000 market hogs have gone to the U.S., an increase of 144,000 from the year before.
“Although our 2024 outlook indicates Canada’s hog sector isn’t completely out of the woods yet, the year is breathing some life back into hog production,” FCC said.
Recent unprecedented population growth suggests there’ll be sustained support to further grow overall Canadian pork consumption in 2024, FCC said.
Consumers have turned to pork from beef where prices are hitting historic highs.
