December 7

12/7 – Foreign demand and Covid-related processing disruptions have combined to deplete pork supplies. Third-quarter U.S. pork exports were up 7.4% (from 2019) at 1.6B pounds, with China up 43.3% (384M lbs) - edging out Mexico to become the top U.S. pork customer. Hams were not able to build up in cold storage this past summer due to labor issues. Cold storage pork supplies on November 1st were down 27% from a year ago, their lowest for this time of year since 2004. On the production side, October hog slaughter was down 2.3% from a year ago, while pork output was just slightly higher than last year. 20-23 lb ham prices, which started September in the mid-$40s per pound, peaked at $.79 ahead of Thanksgiving and remain elevated at $.71. Look for prices to start to soften a bit in mid-December but for 20-23 lb ham prices to likely average above $.60 for Q1 or 2021.