More hog producers are considering getting out of the business as the pandemic continues to put pressure on the economy.
Coronavirus disruptions continue to put large and small pork producers in a tight financial spot.
“Even in history, when we’ve had the economic tough times for some large producers, they’ve been purchased by somebody else. In this case, both of these large producers are liquidating, and part of it is, they’re in geographic areas were there might not be others to buy those facilities,” Steve Meyer, an economist with Kerns and Associates, said.
Meyer adds that there are not enough buyers where hogs are for sale.
One silver lining is that most packing plants are back online.
“Last week we were at 96.2 percent. So, a pretty good number. We think that that shows excellent recovery from this thing,” he said. “I don’t think we can stay there week-in, week-out. I think we’ll have some problems develop.”