Canadian Pork, Beef Inventories Shrink After Herd Cuts, Higher Exports

Canadian pork inventories on July 1 were 13 percent smaller than a year earlier, as herd cuts spurred a drop in meat production and exports rebounded. Beef supplies also shrank.

Warehouses held 40,524 metric tons (89.34 million pounds) of pork, down from 46,742 tons in July 2009, Statistics Canada said today in a report. Beef stockpiles shrank 9.8 percent from a year earlier to 17,467 tons, the government agency said.

Farmers, hurt by losses that began in 2005 and lasted until April, reduced their hog-breeding herds by about 19 percent over five years, said Victor Aideyan, a senior risk-management consultant at HISGRAIIN Commodities Inc. in London, Ontario. Canadian pork exports in the first five months of 2010 rose 4.9 percent from a year earlier, government data show.

“The demand side looks very good right now across the board,” Aideyan said. “Domestic demand in Canada and the U.S. is relatively stable. The export market has really been the bright spot.”

As of July 17, pork production in Canada had declined 0.5 percent this year from the same period in 2009, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada data.

The Canadian cattle herd as of Jan. 1 totaled 13.015 million head, the fewest since at least 2004. The government is scheduled to update livestock-inventory data next month.

Canadian chicken inventories totaled 35,543 tons on July 1, down 6.4 percent from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said today. Turkey stockpiles shrank 3.8 percent to 35,811 tons.

To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net

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