Manitoba Agriculture said last week that two hog packers in that province will no longer supply daily hog price data.
This will prevent the publishing of average slaughter hog prices on a daily basis beginning this week. The information was published on the department’s internet site and was available on several other sites and the Reuter news service.
The agriculture department said it will try to publish weekly average prices.
Since the Manitoba hog marketing board lost its single-desk monopoly, the four major packers there have co-operated with Manitoba Agriculture to provide a daily average of the actual prices paid for hogs.
Timely cash price information is getting difficult to obtain in Western Canada.
There is no daily published average price in Alberta. The agriculture department there was publishing an estimated average weekly price each Thursday, but it is now publishing the information a week after the fact.
Saskatchewan Pork International still publishes a daily price range.
