Canada’s pork producers and exporters have asked Agriculture Canada to hold an emergency meeting to address the hog price collapse.
The urgency of the issue was underlined late last week when the American Pork Producers Council asked United States president Bill Clinton for a list of emergency actions, including a request that American packers reduce imports of Canadian hogs.
Reuters News Service reported that Donna Reifschneider, an Illinois pork producer who heads the group, said Nov. 20 that without action, thousands of U.S. farmers will be forced out of business.
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Prices fell last week to the lowest level since 1971 and U.S. hog slaughter records are being set.
“Losses are of such historic proportions that if this dangerous situation is not reversed quickly, it will result in the failure of tens of thousands of pork producers and a massive restructuring of pork production in the United States,” Reifschneider said in a letter to Clinton.
The situation is a national emergency, “warranting immediate intervention by the U.S. government,” she added.
Edouard Asnong, president of the Canadian Pork Council, said the situation is equally desperate here.
He avoided criticism of the U.S. call for reduced Canadian imports, saying the hog price plunge is a North American problem that all parties must resolve.
But limiting trade is not the solution, he said.
“Canada and the United States must remove and avoid any unnecessary trade barriers in response to the current economic pressures.
“Wherever possible, U.S. packers should be able to process Canadian hogs and vice versa,” he said.
Last week at a meeting of Canada Pork International, the sector’s export development arm, members discussed the need to increase hog slaughter and consumption in Canada.
This year’s federally inspected hog slaughter in Canada, up to Nov. 14, stood at 13.36 million hogs, up 5.6 percent over last year. But U.S. slaughter is running 10 percent over last year.
The USDA estimates four million Canadian hogs will cross the border this year, up from 3.2 million in 1997.
Asnong, who farms at Ste. Hyacinthe, Que., said producer groups will meet soon with meat processors to identify ways to increase slaughter.
“This is a time when everyone must be seen to be doing his or her share to address the crisis,” he said.
One criticism the U.S. producers group leveled at Canada is that the country is exporting hogs even though plants here are running about 50,000 head a week under capacity.
Gerry Friesen, head of Manitoba Pork Producers, was surprised by the charge.
“I’m not sure where they come up with that number. I know J.M. Schneider is certainly killing at full capacity and as far as I know Maple Leaf is too.”
Explore retail prices
The pork council also plans meetings with food retailers to discuss why pork prices at meat counters have not fallen along with hog prices and to explore how the industry can co-operate to sell more pork in Canada.
CPC has asked that the federal government make significant donations of pork to Russia and Central American countries.
It also planned to meet with members of Parliament this week to talk about the need for financial assistance in the form of “counter-disaster measures.”
