Agricultural Marketing Service

1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-0201

www.ams.usda.gov

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer

LMR Stakeholder Discussion Items – Pork and Swine

August 8, 2017

As requested by industry stakeholders, AMS continues to conduct several data and reporting 

reviews to explore areas for possible LMR report improvements. Below is a summary of recent 

reviews, along with recommendations from AMS. For the bullets marked “Action Item,” AMS 

requests feedback from your organization. 

Please refer back to the stakeholder meeting notes on the LMR website to review the detailed 

analysis on the discussion items listed below. 

Issue 1. Swine or Pork Market Formula Percentage Survey. AMS will conduct a voluntary 

survey of packers to determine the percentage of formulas based off of the pork cutout in the 

Swine or Pork Market Formula purchase type.

 Action Item: While AMS can conduct a voluntary survey of packers, more details and 

direction are needed from stakeholders to ensure this is a useful tool, such as:

o Frequency of survey?

o Should this survey represent a snapshot in time, or be an accumulation of monthly 

or quarterly data (depending on the frequency)?

o Is this an estimated average percentage?

o Once the information is submitted to AMS, what should AMS do with the data? 

For example - take each company’s response and create an industry average

(similar to the cutout yields)? Should there be any emphasis or weighting based 

on market share?

o How should AMS verify this data?

o Should this survey only include cutout based percentages? What about other 

percentages, such as percentage based off the 201 report, a regional purchase 

report, or the CME index?

o What if the base price is established using only a fraction of the cutout? For 

example, some formulas are a percentage of the cutout, and a percentage(s) of 

another source.

 Example of 201 report with percentage of cutout based formulas:
Agricultural Marketing Service

1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-0201

www.ams.usda.gov

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer

Issue 2. Packer Sold and Producer Sold Query. Using January 2016 data, AMS evaluated all 

producer and packer sold purchase data on the National Daily Direct Hog Prior Day Slaughtered 

Swine Report (LM_HG201) to determine the potential impact of alternate reporting options.

Two options were evaluated. 1. Expanding the packer sold category on the 201 report across all 

purchase types (it is currently reported as a comprehensive of all purchase types). 2. If option 1 

was not possible due to confidentiality, AMS would evaluate combining the current packer sold 

category with the current producer sold category.

 Recommendation: AMS recommends either the continuation of current LM_HG201

reporting practices or the combination of the producer sold and packer sold data. AMS 

cannot further expand the packer sold data across all purchase types due to 

confidentiality.

 Action Item: AMS requests feedback and direction from stakeholders on how to 

proceed. AMS evaluated slaughter data for the month of January 2016. In evaluating the 

packer sold purchase types, only the swine or pork market formula swine passed

confidentiality on a daily basis. AMS does not expect these results to be different the rest

of the year. What is the industry’s recommendation for moving forward? Should AMS 

consider combining the producer and packer sold categories together on the LM_HG201, 

or continue with the current version of the prior day slaughtered swine report?

Issue 3. Categorizing St. Louis Ribs. AMS will establish regular review schedules with 

industry to assess future reporting changes to either pork cut lines or the pork cutout. For the 

initial review, stakeholders requested AMS evaluate confidentiality issues and the resulting 

impact with categorizing St. Louis ribs into two weight categories (2.75 and down and 2.75 and 

up), or by piece count. Currently, this style of ribs are not published on the pork reports by 

weight categories.

 Recommendation: After evaluation of 2016 data, AMS recommends not changing the 

current St. Louis Rib reporting practices as data analysis suggests a reporting loss of 36%

of the data volume on the daily report (about 38 million pounds or 952 loads annually). 

 Action Item: Do stakeholders want AMS to move forward with reporting St. Louis Ribs 

with weight breaks or by piece count? Or, should AMS continue to report St. Louis Ribs 

per the current line item on the report, and leave this subject open for discussion as the 

industry expands in the future?

Issue 4. Expansion of Forward Sales Report. AMS analyzed 2016 data to review any 

confidentiality issues and the possibility of further expanding reported delivery codes for 11-60 

days on combos, 15-60 days on boxes, and 61 days and more on combos and boxes on the 

National Weekly Forward Pork Reports (LM_PK630 and LM_PK631). Currently the two (FOB 

plant, FOB Omaha) weekly forward sales reports are not broken out by delivery period.
Agricultural Marketing Service

1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-0201

www.ams.usda.gov

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer

The LPS-89 reporting form currently includes the following delivery periods:

 Recommendation: AMS recommends the continuation of current reporting practices on 

the National Weekly Forward Pork Reports, which is the combined reporting of all the 

delivery codes. There is a significant loss of reported data (18%) resulting from 

confidentiality issues when the 61 day and up data is broken out separately as it does not 

pass confidentiality on its own.

 Action Item: Do stakeholders want AMS to move forward with reporting forward sales 

broken out by delivery period? Or, should AMS continue to report forward sales per the 

current format and leave this subject open for discussion as the industry expands in the 

future?