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Missouri Pork optimistic about trade, prices

Trade deal advancements have been positive for the pork industry but current price levels, not so much.

Don Nikodim is executive director of the Missouri Pork Association. He tells Brownfield Ag News, “The Japan trade deal which didn’t probably get as much attention as it deserved is really big for the pork industry.”

He says the China phase one trade deal has great potential, although China is now dealing with the spread of the coronavirus, “There’s a lot of issues with dock workers and such like that in China, so it’s kind of slowing that. But, we’re really optimistic about those kind of deals that can help move a lot of U.S. pork all over the country.”

Nikodim says there has been a lot of success with NAFTA and the new USMCA keeps pork exports tariff free, “Mexico’s a big market. They’re our largest ham market, by far. Volume market is huge. Canada’s also a big buyer of U.S. pork so it’s a big plus for people in our business.”

Nikodim says hog prices are not high enough – with the live hog market under a lot of pressure, “If you look at the numbers we have lots of pigs and they’ve been heavy. And with some of the bottlenecks and some of the export movements that’s really kind of dampened hog prices.”

He’s hopeful prices will turn around – and LONG TERM it looks extremely good, “We’re in a growth mode. We’re continuing to see expansion here in Missouri, adding more sows and finishers, etc. So, everybody’s still pretty optimistic.”

The 2020 Missouri Pork Expo continues through Wednesday afternoon at the Holiday Inn Expo Center in Columbia, Missouri.

Interview with Don Nikodim

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