Chicago - Pork prices closed higher Friday after the government announced fresh steps to aid struggling hog farmers and weather forecasts called for more snowstorms this weekend in the eastern U.S. Corn Belt.
The first blast of winter ice and snows from the Plains to the Northeast this week generally supported grain and livestock prices, giving markets a welcome breather from the heavy selling that sent prices to their lowest levels in years in 1998.
At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, hog prices for February delivery closed 0.475 cent higher at 37.200 cents a pound, while February pork bellies rose 0.325 cent to 49.225 cents a pound.
Profit-taking by speculators weighed on pork prices early following three consecutive days of maximum gains that added 6 cents to the February hog contract. But prices soon rallied once again on the government aid news.
Vice President Al Gore, visiting the top hog-producing state of Iowa Friday, said the government would give distressed pork farmers $50 million in direct cash payments and another $80 million in compensation for some 1.7 million hogs to be destroyed to eradicate pseudorabies, a swine disease.
“I want to reassure pork producers and their families that President Clinton and I are doing everything we can to help soften the blows and get producers back on their feet, not just so they can survive, but so they can share in the nation's continuing prosperity,” Gore said.
Market prices paid to farmers in Iowa for slaughter hogs plunged in mid- December as low as $8 per hundred pounds, the lowest prices since World War Two. Prices have been driven down by huge supplies of pork and meat in general and reduced packing capacity in the United States.
Winter storms continued to slow transport in the Midwest and stress animals, increasing feed demand and supporting grain prices. Dry weather in South America this week has also helped grain prices, creating some concerns about crops there.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
P.O. Box 553
Northport, NY 11768
Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com
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