Pork Production is Outpacing Demand

Despite record low prices and decreased demand for animal products nationally and abroad, last month the US Department of Agriculture estimated the nation’s pig and hog herd was at a record high of over 70 million individuals. Wall Street Journal writer Kelsey Gee reveals that while the number of pigs produced in the country for meat continues to grow, the potential for profit and export demand for pork products continues to fall. “The buildup has stoked concerns over a glut of meat, poultry and other agricultural products in the US. Producers are on track to send a record number of hogs and chickens to slaughter this year, and beef production is rapidly increasing,” Gee says. Meat producers are essentially creating the same situation that dairy producers found themselves in earlier this year where they produced an 11-million-pound surplus of cheese for which the US government issued a $20 million bailout.