USDA’s January Livestock, Dairy and Poultry outlook report suggests a slow ramp up of live hog imports into the United States. That’s because Mandatory COOL is now repealed and imports of Canadian live hogs are expected to increase nine percent this year to 6.2 million head. Nebraska Pork Producers Association Executive Director Al Juhnke says as far as concerns about more Canadian hogs coming in, the strong U.S. dollar may have been more of an impact than repeal of COOL.
Since Congress repealed COOL, U.S. pork processors don’t have to differentiate between U.S. and Canadian Hogs. Juhnke says NAFTA’s been in place for some time now allowing free trade and as far as differentiation goes, they’ll keep monitoring those effects going forward.
One thing that could slow down Canadian hog imports into the U.S. is that recent hog inventories in Canada have declined and their own packer demand has increased.
