Last week marked yet another record high for U.S. hog slaughter.
The 2.54 million hogs processed was up 18 per cent from the previous week, which included the Thanksgiving holiday.
But as Ron Plain of the University of Missouri points out, that's still up almost 5 per cent from the same week last year.
Plain says the only more surprising the huge volumes is the fact that hog prices have increased quickly so far this week.
Hog prices are up between $2.00 and $2.25 south of the border, the national negotiated barrow and gilt carcass price has jumped nearly six dollars.
Plain also notes weights are down by an average of 3.4 pounds from a year ago.
He says that's a good indication that producers are on top of their marketings.
U.S. slaughter numbers are up by 1.8 per cent from 2015, while total production is up only 1.1 per cent.
Slaughter in Canada is now up 2.2 per cent, but total production here this is up by nearly three per cent.
The analyst adds that two and a half million hogs had never been processed in a week in the States before this fall -- now it's happened 4 times in the last 7 weeks.
