America’s pig farmers produced a record-breaking number of market hogs in 2016, resulting in ample supplies of pork at the retail meat case and in restaurants. Today’s large hog supplies are being driven by both a growth in the breeding herds and increased productivity. The high level of pork production is expected to continue well into 2017, again providing record-breaking supplies of pork in the marketplace.
Pork production is cyclical, and in good times, such as in 2014 with high pork prices, many farmers built financial reserves or invested in their business by expanding production. Although slaughter capacity has been close to capacity several times this past year, the silver lining is that there are several processing facilities under construction right now, which should alleviate the large hog supplies coming into the marketplace.