Hog Market Recovering

Hog Market Recovering. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

When the H1N1 virus broke out, U.S. hog farmers were already facing tough economic times. But news of the H1N1 virus, then known as the Swine Flu, further weakened the market due to the misperception by some consumers that the H1N1 virus was linked to pork consumption.

SARTWELLE: We’ve seen estimates out that the hog industry right now is losing $7 million a day. We know that pork producers were losing a little bit less than $20 per head before the H1N1 came out. That number jumped to well over $30 per head loss.

American Farm Bureau economist Jim Sartwelle says the pork market is showing signs of recovery.

SARTWELLE: Prices have come back up. We saw a significant rally in the futures market last Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Cash market has started to catch up a little bit behind it. We saw hog prices go up about a dollar last Thursday and Friday. We got a lot of hope that we’ll continue to see that market movement continue upward this week.

Most U.S. consumers are now aware that the H1N1 virus cannot be contracted through eating pork.

SARTWELLE: It’s been a very consistent message that we had that there’s zero link between consuming pork and any of the H1N1 problems. This is not a food-borne illness outbreak this is a virus that gets transferred human to human.

Sartwelle says the industry is optimistic that the export market for pork will recover.

SARTWELLE: We look and we still see that many exports markets to U.S. pork are still shut down at this time, and we’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll see some of those markets open back up here.

Sartwelle explains that consumers have successfully received the message that pork is safe to eat.

SARTWELLE: We’re pleased to see that after a relatively short period of time, those who make the market read our consumers’ behavior and realized that most of our public gets it.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.