Profit margins for pork producers declined nearly $14 per head last week, yet those margins remain near historical highs. Pork producers saw average profits of $94 per head the week ending May 22, according to the Sterling Pork Profit Tracker. Last week’s margins were roughly the same as one month ago, but $145 per head higher than the same week a year ago when losses totaled $51 per head.
A year ago some market-ready hogs had no final home and their value was near zero. Last week marked the 15th consecutive week with positive margins. The Pork Profit Tracker is calculated by Sterling Marketing Inc., Vale, Ore.
Lean carcass prices averaged $117.21 last week, $4.33 per cwt. lower than the previous week, and $5.96 higher than a month ago. The quoted carcass price from a year ago was $38.25 per cwt.
Pork packers lost an average of $7 per hog last week, which is an improvement from the previous week’s losses of $24 per head, the highest weekly average loss in the Sterling Marketing database since 1987. A year ago pork packers made $121 per hog.
Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 85.1% compared to 76.8% a year ago. Estimated market hog slaughter last week was 2,393,000 head.
Sterling Marketing president John Nalivka projects annual cash profit margins for hogs at $41 for 2021, and packer profits at $13 per head.
