Pork Prices

SwineCast 0533

• Kansas State economist Ted Schroeder discusses a recent research release of the nation's wholesale voluntary pork price reporting system and whether improvements could be made.

Mark Greenwood
October 2008

Mark Greenwood
September 2008

Mark Greenwood
August 2008

Mark Greenwood
July 2008

Mark Greenwood
June 2008

SwineCast 0301 Show Notes:

• Economist Steve Meyers discusses Pork Management presentation and the next year's industry outlook
• SwineCast blogger Mark Greenwood steps up to look at management steps to make sure you and your lender continue the big dance
• Food inflation will be hitting the U.S. consumer in a big way... and they'll think you're responsible. Get traction on answering the questions you'll be asked.

Mark Greenwood
March 2008 

It is not getting any better – The losses are continuing in the swine industry. This past month feed prices kept going up while hog prices improved some but not near enough. Losses in the open market are still close to $40 a head and everyone keeps wondering when will it get better and what do prices have to get to before we start getting profitable? Well, the first thing we need to do is to somehow get supply reduced. The last cold storage report shows that we have an abundant supply of product. Even though exports have been very good we need to reduce supply to get any significant improvement in prices.

     There are more bubbles floating around the earth today than I have noticed in my entire career.  Bubbles begin with legitimate economic opportunity but end up crowding out legitmate functions and market signals, resulting in all sorts of distortions and misallocations of resources.  They start harmlessly enough where opportunity exists, for where opportunity exists, investment is attracted to capture a return.

     A bubble happens when capital overpopulates an opportunity and drives its trading value higher than its fundamental economic value.  Since all deviations from reality are at some point rationalized, we can watch at some distance, the natural cycle of a bubble from formation to bursting in a dozen or more on-going markets but some of them we are caught up in more directly.

Mark Greenwood
December 2007

Depressed Prices Hit Hard As Numbers Rise
Ouch! That might be the best way to describe swine economics today. If you are selling hogs on the open market today, and have not locked in any pigs, my best estimate of the losses that you are absorbing range in the neighborhood of $25-$30 a head. Average revenue this month will be around $100-$105 a head, with costs at $125-$135 a head, depending on market weights that you are selling at.