Des Moines, IA - National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) President Donna Reifschneider expressed appreciation to two pork packing companies for establishing voluntary floor prices, saying the action will provide a measure of short-term relief to producers and is a positive sign for the future of the industry.
Hatfield Quality Meats and Farmland Industries this week became the first packers to set voluntary minimum prices. Hatfield established a price of $25 per hundredweight through at least the end of December, after which the policy will be reviewed. Farmland set a minimum price at $15 per hundredweight, which is available to producers who sold hogs to the farmer-owned cooperative between Sept. 1 and Dec. 19, 1998.
“We commend the leadership of these two companies and hope it spurs other packers to follow suit,” said Reifschneider, a producer from Smithton, Ill. “This action demonstrates a keen understanding of the pain current prices are causing our producers and a commitment to the long-term future of our industry. While these floor prices will not restore profitability, they are a step in the right direction.”
NPPC has appealed to the Clinton Administration for assistance on behalf of pork producers, who are suffering through historically low prices due to a 10 percent reduction in slaughterhouse capacity and a 37 percent increase in Canadian hogs being slaughtered in the U.S.
NPPC has requested: a loan guarantee program, including interest assistance and debt restructuring; direct payments to pork producers; an increase in slaughter capacity and a reduction in Canadian live hog exports; implementation of a humanitarian “gilt lift” of approximately 300,000 hogs to countries devastated by Hurricane Mitch; a nationwide program of eradication of pseudorabies-positive herds; and additional purchases of pork and pork products for domestic and international feeding or humanitarian assistance programs.
Reifschneider said pork producers appreciate the actions USDA Secretary Dan Glickman has taken thus far to assist pork producers, however, “without a comprehensive plan to address the pork price crisis by Christmas, thousands of pork producers and their families will go out of business and a restructuring of the industry is very likely.”
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