Hog productivity gains again offset cuts to farrowing

The USDA’s June Hogs and Pigs report places the June 1 inventory of all hogs and pigs at 74.5 million head, up 0.22% from last quarter and 1.27% higher than a year ago, close to pre-report expectations of 1.2% higher. Likewise, market hog inventories are up 0.25% from last quarter and 1.68% higher than a year ago, again close to pre-report expectations of 1.5% higher. Meanwhile the breeding herd is down 0.13% from last quarter and down 3.19% from last year, just below the bottom end of the range of pre-report expectations of 1.5% to 3.0% lower. In contrast, the March through May pig crop, at 1.82% higher than last year, comes in a bit above the upper end of the range of pre-report expectations of 0.90% to 1.60% (1.3% on average) higher. Overall, the number of hogs weighing less than 180 pounds is about 1.5% larger than a year ago, which will be the market hogs arriving at processing plants from July through November 2024. The year-over-year increase in lighter weight hogs partly r