The USDA's Quarterly Hogs & Pigs report was released Thursday, March 30th reporting lower hog inventories from the previous quarter which were up modestly compared to last year.
- All Hogs & Pigs fell -2.1% or 1,539 thousand head under the inventory reported in December, bringing the latest inventory 171 thousand or +0.2% over March 2022.
- Kept for Breeding slipped -0.3% or 17 thousand from the total in December, which is up +0.5% or 29 thousand over a year earlier.
- Market hogs were -2.2% or 1,522 thousand head lower than the previous quarter, which is up +0.2% or 143 thousand head over last year.
- The March pig crop declined 2,173 thousand head or -6.3% from previously reported, brining the pig crop +0.3% or 111 thousand head over year-ago levels.
- Pigs per litter slipped -1.8% from the previous quarter to 11.02 pigs/litter for the Dec-Feb period (a new historical high for the quarter), which is +0.6 higher than last year.
Revisions, as noted on the latest USDA report:
“All inventory and pig crop estimates for March 2022 through December 2022 were reviewed using final pig crop, official slaughter, death loss, and updated import and export data. The revision made to the December 2022 all hogs and pigs inventory was 1.8 percent. A revision of 1.6 percent was made to the September 2022-November 2023 pig crop. The net revision made to the September 2022 all hogs and pigs inventory was 0.4 percent. A net revision of 1.5 percent was made to the June-August 2022 pig crop.”