US annual hog slaughter decline

Last week the USDA published the actual hog slaughter for 2022. Year over year the official US Barrow and Gilt slaughter is down 3.547 million head. A big drop and one we expect decline to continue through 2023. Of note, the total US slaughter in 2020 was 131.563 million head. If our arithmetic is correct about 10 million more head than in 2022. The large decline is a reflection in our opinion of the lack of profitability our industry has been dealing with. U.S. pork production in 2022 is down 1.4 billion pounds from 2020. Beef up just over 500 million pounds in the same time frame. We expect both will be lower in 2023 cutting red meat availability and supporting both Beef and Hog prices. Last Friday market close US Pork Carcass cut-out 79.99 lb. US Choice Beef Carcass cut-out 271.70 lb. Seems to us producing Pork that chases Beef might be good business. Taste matters. Appears where hogs got backed up during holidays shortened slaughter and weather issues hog weights jumped. They ...