Paul Martin's Business Update - March 6th, 2014

Paul Martin's Business Update - March 6th, 2014

One of the more volatile commodities in this province is once again undergoing a dramatic market shift.

It wasn’t that long ago the hog business was on its knees. A drought in the US corn-belt a couple years ago pushed feed prices through the roof, almost overnight and left even the biggest players in the industry in this country in tatters. Two of the biggest actually needed new investors to step in and take them over.

Now the hog business is riding the other end of the teeter-tooter. A disease that has hit barns across North America has tightened supplies and has buyers worried that they won’t be able to get chops or ribs for this summer’s BBQ season. So they’re bidding up futures prices, putting them in record territory.

The price for live animals a couple months out has risen by 30 per cent in the past six weeks. But some new data released this week show Saskatchewan producers are not only riding a new price trend, we’re one of the few places that has actually seen its stock of animals rise.

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