Market uncertainty, election weigh on Manitoba pork sector

MarketsFarm — Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Pork, has felt the highs and lows of the province’s pork industry over the past few months.

While he expects Manitoba’s feed grain harvest to provide some relief to feed prices for pork producers, Dahl also mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the African swine fever situation in China and growing protectionism in the U.S. as factors that can upend the industry.

“There’s a lot of volatility and a lot of uncertainty. I think, at this time, we are seeing positive margins in market hogs. But earlier this year, that was definitely not the case and we’ve seen significant volatility in the market,” he said. “It would be my assessment that that uncertainty and volatility is going to be with us for some time.”

However, one bright spot for the Manitoba pork industry was last summer’s expansion of Winkler Meats, 110 km southwest of Winnipeg. A joint venture between Manitoba-based farm management services firm the Progressive Group and U.S. sausage company Johnsonville, the $52.8 million project, partially funded by the federal and provincial governments, will add 155 local jobs.

The expansion follows the openings of the Maple Leaf Foods bacon processing plant in Winnipeg in 2021 as well as Topigs Norsvin’s Innova Canada nucleus farm near Plumas northwest of Winnipeg last year.

“Because we’re seeing that critical mass of hog production in Manitoba, we’re seeing that investment come to our province, to our economy. Building jobs and building community, it’s a very big thing,” Dahl said. “To have that ability to cull sows in Manitoba as opposed to moving them into the U.S., that takes a significant risk out of the equation.”

Pork is also becoming more attractive for Canadian consumers. According to Statistics Canada, prices for fresh and frozen pork products went down six per cent from July to August and 0.9 per cent year-by-year.

While prices can fluctuate, the price differential between pork and beef is more important, Dahl said. Beef prices went up 2.4 per cent from July to August and 11.9 per cent over the past year.

“What we’re seeing is the differential between beef and pork grow and that should bolster demand especially at a time of very high food inflation,” he said.

Manitoba Pork has performed biosecurity assessments at approximately 200 hog sites, according to Dahl, while producers must also follow more than 100 requirements before delivering animals to federally-inspected plants.

Before Manitobans go to the polls to decide their next provincial government on Oct. 3, Dahl wants political parties and voters to recognize the economic and community benefits of the industry.

“We recently had an economic study done that shows the pork sector contributes over 22,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, to the provincial economy. $2.3 billion worth of GDP every year, which is 3.5 per cent of Manitoba’s GDP,” he said, later summarizing his pitch with four points.

“Building community, our contributions to the economy and jobs, the large strides that have been made in environmental sustainability and manure management, and the rigorous animal care.”

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.