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Hog market very risky

A market analyst sees tremendous risk in the hog market right now.

Elaine Kub says as China continues to deal with domestic hog losses related to African swine fever, it’s difficult to pinpoint the demand potential for U.S. pork.

“They may still have to come to the United States and buy pork even with the tariffs. But the market is responding because even if that demand is there, the price will have to come down to account for the tariffs.”

Kub says China could replace its shrinking domestic pork supply by not only importing from countries like the U.S. and Canada, but by looking at other meats.

“I believe the poultry industry is really nicely positioned to take advantage of the demand for protein in global diets that is not necessarily yet under the threat of any disease problems.”

Hog futures closed limit down Monday following President Trump’s tweets about possibly raising tariffs on China later this week.