World Perspectives
livestock

Hog Herd up 4 Percent; Pork Demand Unpredictable

USDA released the quarterly Hogs and Pigs report yesterday. Some topline highlights:  Total swine inventory on 1 March was 77.6 million head, 104 percent of March 2019, but 99 percent of 1 December 2019.

Market hogs were above pre-report expectations

Breeding herd was below pre-report expectations

Total sow slaughter was up – a significant factor likely was sows from Canada

Farrowing intentions for March-May were down slightly from actual farrowings for the same quarter in 2019

June-August farrowing intentions are 96 percent of actual 2019 farrowings for the quarter

Production efficiency, however, continues to increase with pigs saved per litter setting new records almost every quarter. Pigs saved p...

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Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 30-February 5, 2026. Wheat: Net sales of 488,000 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were up 31 percent from the previous week and 14 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 580,000 MT were up 44 percent from the previous week and 59 percent...

A Year in Review: Impact of Tariffs on Agricultural and Food Processing Machinery

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livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further last week, with estimated net losses widening to -$247/head, extending the deterioration seen through late January. Boxed beef values were firmer last week, but gains failed to offset increases in fed cattle prices, resulting in additional margin compression...

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From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

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