NHF_WEEKLY PREVIEW_ A Penton Media Property June 1, 2009 If you want to view this on the web go to: http://enews.penton.com/enews/nationalhogfarmer/v/397 EDITOR'S NOTE --Editor's Note If you are wondering why the National Hog Farmer's Weekly Preview showed up in your Inbox on Monday instead of the usual Friday delivery, there's a good reason. When we recently changed the title to "Weekly Preview," (formerly North American Preview), it became obvious that the e-newsletter should arrive at the beginning of the week. The change also allows Steve Meyer to offer the most current information in the "Competing Meats - Production & Price Summary" table, which always appears at the end of his weekly column. We will continue to position the National Hog Farmer Weekly Preview to serve as a resource for pork producers, swine industry academia and allied industry representatives. It is our goal to deliver up-to-date marketing, financial, swine health and legislative news and information that will impact your business in the coming weeks. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Yours for a better pork industry, Dale Miller, Editor dpmiller@nationalhogfarmer.com (mailto:dpmiller@nationalhogfarmer.com) 952-851-4661 MARKET PREVIEW --Stuff Happens! One of the big advantages of the new Weekly Preview publication schedule is that readers will get fresh data on prior week supplies and prices (see attached table). You will now see Friday's week-ending data on the following Monday morning. Except for this Monday morning for any of you who are particularly interested in Canadian data and prices. I apologize, but the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada website from which I download these data was not operational over the weekend. Hopefully, they will have the problem corrected by next week. If any readers are now ruing the day they either a) listened to or b) agreed with my conclusion back in March and April that a seasonal price rally was coming and it would bring with it better pricing opportunities for summer and fall hog sales, please realize that I am ruing the days I said it even more so. But I have no idea how I or any other analyst could have come to any other conclusion or could have in any way foreseen the havoc that has been caused by the H1N1 influenza virus. Stuff happens and this stuff happened at just about the worst possible moment. To view the full article go to: http://nationalhogfarmer.com/marketpreview/0601-stuff-happens FINANCIAL PREVIEW --The Swine Industry is at a Crossroads The H1N1 Influenza A virus has caused even more financial pain for the industry for the month of May. Hog producers today are receiving prices in the range of $110-$115 a head with cost of production at $140 per head. It is estimated that the average producer has lost an additional 5% of their equity in the last 60 days. The average owner equity today would be below 40% and this downward trend cannot be sustained forever. I spoke to a group this past month and they brought to my attention their concerns about the industry and how it has the potential to become much more integrated. I challenged this group and encouraged them to think out--of-the-box and come up with a solution. Recently, a program has been formed, called the Producer Retirement Program and the Program representatives will be at the World Pork Expo next week. Their location will be in the Varied Industries Building at booth number 737. They are attempting to come up with a proactive way for producers, who have decided to retire all/part of their herd, to receive more than slaughter prices for their sows. I would encourage those of you who will be at WPX to stop by and get more details from them if you have interest. Below are some facts concerning this organization: To view the full article go to: http://nationalhogfarmer.com/swine-flu/0601-swine-industry-crossroads LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW --Contract Limitations Contract Limitations -- Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) have introduced the Livestock Marketing Fairness Act. According to the sponsors the bill would: *Require that forward contracts for livestock (cattle, hogs and lambs) be traded in public markets where buyers and sellers can witness bids as well as make their own offers. This ensures the market is open to multiple offers. *Require marketing agreements to have a firm base price derived from an external source. This ensures that local contract prices are not subject to manipulation by packer-owned herds. To view the full article go to: http://nationalhogfarmer.com/0601-contract-limitations NEWS FLASH --Hog Producers Sink Into More Red Ink The H1N1 flu crisis and rising feed prices have combined to sink the pork industry in red ink, dating back to the fall of 2007. "While recovery in hog prices is expected as the world tries to return to more normal consumption, the financial stress may be nearing a breaking point for some producers," suggests Chris Hurt, Purdue University agricultural economist. Hog prices were set to rise in April 2009, only to be derailed by the April 24 announcement of a human flu outbreak that the media wrongly dubbed "swine flu." "Lean carcass values closed at $61 on April 24, but just seven trading days later, prices dropped by $10," Hurt says. To view the full article go to: http://nationalhogfarmer.com/health-diseases/news/0527-crisis-prices-sinking-industry PORK INDUSTRY CALENDAR June 3-5, 2009 World Pork Expo, Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, IA. For details go to: www.pork.org (http://www.pork.org). June 12, 2009: Annual Pork Chop Scramble, York Country Club, York, NE; for more information contact the Nebraska Pork Producers Association at (888) 627-7675 or nppa@nepork.org. (mailto:nppa@nepork.org) To view the full article go to: http://nationalhogfarmer.com/calendar/ ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER You are subscribed to this newsletter as #email# To subscribe to this newsletter go to: http://subscribe.nationalhogfarmer.com/?tc=NLSUB To unsubscribe from this newsletter go to: http://subscribe.nationalhogfarmer.com/?tc=NLSUB&cid=#message_id#&lid=#list_id#&email=#email# Send Comments & Questions Dale Miller, Editor, National Hog Farmer, mailto:dale.miller@penton.com Penton Media | 249 W. 17th Street | New York, NY 10011 Copyright 2009, Penton Media. All rights reserved. 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