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September 6, 2002

Failing hog prices topic of pork meeting

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Producers are invited to a discussion on hog markets that will offer a comparison between hog prices in 1998 and the present.

The meeting, which is free and open to the public, will be at Purdue University at 7 p.m. Tuesday (9/10) in Lilly Hall, Room 3-113.

The concentration, consolidation and integration in the hog market, as well as pricing will be covered by Ken Foster, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue.

"We're going into another period where hog prices are going extremely low," Foster said.

He said that hog prices are going through a huge drop reminiscent of prices in 1998, the lowest prices in the history of the hog market.

Christopher Hurt, professor of agricultural economics, will compare the current hog market to that of 1998.

"We thought that perhaps 1998 prices were so extremely low that it might be once in a lifetime that we would see them, now it appears that this fall we may see a repeat," Hurt said. "It suggests that the industry and markets have changed so dramatically that we have much lower expectations of what prices are going to be and much tighter margins."

Hurt said that independent producers may have to look at becoming contract producers to be able to survive in the hog industry. He said independent producers currently are getting $15 per 100 pounds while contract producers are receiving around $28 per hundred pounds.

Price patterns, profit margins and large producers also will be covered by Hurt.

"Producers are going to come to us with the question of, 'Do I have to be part of a packer relationship?' and I think we are going to say, yes, that you do. There is not much of a choice in this," Hurt said.

For more information contact Allan Schinckel, professor of animal science, at (765) 494-4836.

Writer: Barney Haney, (765) 494-8402, haneyb@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu


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