34 Pork News & Views Better Pork April 2021 Pork News & Views Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Better Pork | February 2024 2023 in review Estimated Monthly Farrow-Finish Returns The first chart illustrates the red ink projected by the OMAFRA Swine Budget in 2023. A brief rally in hog prices in the summer months was disappointing when compared to many previous years (see below). Although feed input costs eased toward the end of the year, this was more than offset by a drop in market hog value. Estimated F-F Returns The long term OMAFRA Swine Budget profitability estimate (second chart) indicates the volatility that pork producers constantly face in the marketplace - a reflection of input and hog market fluctuations, as well as the dollar exchange rate over the years. According to the Budget, 2023 ranks among the poorest years in recent decades. Estimated Feed Costs and Hog Prices It is fortunate that during the previous couple of years strong demand for market hogs helped support hog prices and counter climbing feed grain and other costs of production. The 2023 Swine Budgets, however, indicates that several months last year probably produced negative results for many producers. The 2023 Farrow-Finish budget estimates a negative net return of about $22 per hog marketed. The third chart shows the estimated Farrow-Finish feed cost from the swine budgets together with the 100% Formula Price and the Average Hog Price as reported by Ontario Pork (see www.ontariopork. on.ca under “Price Report” for details about how the Average, Low, and High Market Hog Prices are calculated, and www.onswine.wordpress for details on the swine budget calculations). Some of the ups and downs in hog and input prices reflect the market interuptions and recoveries we’ve seen in the last two years. Access to the global marketplace, especially the US, is critical for Ontario – a border closure due to a Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) such as African Swine Fever (ASF) would lead to immense problems in the pork industry (see previous article on the importance of farm biosecurity in preventing FAD).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc0MDI3