Hog prices have remained strong through mid-November compared with 1998.
Current prices are substantially above year earlier levels.
Figure 1 shows the weekly Iowa-Southern Minnesota live hog prices. Hog prices continue to hold strong even though slaughter levels are running higher than expected. Since Labor Day week, Federally Inspected slaughter levels have totaled 18.522 million head. During the same 9 weeks in 1998, slaughter totaled 18.544 million head. One possible explanation for the discrepancy between actual slaughter and estimates based on the Hogs and Pigs report could be the unseasonably warm fall, which has allowed pigs to gain faster and come to market sooner.