Pork prices at retail in the latest reports indicate that pork prices were higher year-over-year led by bacon prices at the highest price at retail since October of 2017.

The export decline of 93 million pounds was led by a drop of 133 million pounds (20.8%) in shipments to Mexico. South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and China also cut their purchases by more than 10 million pounds each.

January-April pork exports were 6% below last year’s pace in volume (817,025 metric tons) and were down 12% in value to just over $2 billion.

First quarter pork volume to Mexico was down 13% year-over-year to 177,420 metric tons, while value declined 29% to $261.9 million.

The Hogs and Pigs Report did confirm that we are going to have plenty of pigs the rest of this year and into 2020. It did not point to some irrational growth rate that is going to flood us with pigs in the future.

The December-February 2019 pig crop, at 32.99 million head, was up 2.8% from 2018, precisely the year-over-year change analysts had expected.

U.S. pork exports are projected to grow faster than beef exports and on par with poultry exports.