Kevin helped develop the strategic plan for PA and has also worked with other groups who were in attendance at this meeting. Steve Meyer, economist for NPPC, gave an industry update. The good news is that demand is up. A new record for the retail price of pork has been set each of the last six months. Marketings are down over four percent for the year, but total production is down only a little over two percent for the year due to higher market weights.
All indications are that production is on the increase.
This is particularly worrisome when considering current slaughter capacity is no higher than the fall of 1998. There is no reason to believe the collision of higher slaughter numbers and the limit of slaughter capacity will have different results this time than it did in 1998. Jeff Ward from NPPC spoke about a study commissioned by NPPC to look at the costs of building a 2,500 head a day slaughter plant. The study is being done by the Stellar Group, who has been involved in the construction of every major slaughter plant built for the last several years in North America, as well as several smaller plants in South America. Dr. Dennis DiPietre presented a summary of the recently completed SJH Study.