University of Missouri Agricultural Economist Ron Plain says American hog prices and cutout values are running about half what they were a year ago.
This week's University of Missouri hog outlook had las week's cutout value at 66.14 and the carcass price at 57.09 per hundredweight.
That cutout value was over 66 dollars below a year ago while the carcass price was just over 68 dollars lower.
Plain says the pork cutout value was up 6 cents from the week before - the first week without a decline in cutout value since mid-January.
He reports last week's U-S hog slaughter of just under 2.2 million head was down about 3 per cent from the previous week but over 9 per cent higher than the same week last year.
Plain is predicting U-S hog slaughter will be up 6 point 5 per cent in the second quarter, 9 point 2 per cent in the third quarter and 4 point 1 per cent in the fourth quarter compared to the year before.
He says total 2015 U-S hog slaughter could be the second highest ever - after 2008.
