Canadian hog farmers risk downsizing their herds too quickly, just as higher pork prices look realistic for next year and Asian demand soars, industry officials said on Wednesday.
Pork consumption is in long decline in the United States and Canada, but Asian demand is rising, said Ted Bilyea, a Toronto agri-food consultant and former executive vice-president of pork processor Maple Leaf Foods (MFI.TO).
People in China and India are eating more meat, but Asia has run out of arable land, resulting on greater reliance on imports, Bilyea said.
Asian consumption, global economic recovery and drops in livestock production in much of the world should produce higher pork prices in 2011, he said.
The question is whether Canadian farmers can supply the higher demand, he said, given conditions that have made raising hogs unprofitable and the need for more focused marketing.
"We've just got to be careful we don't over-shoot (in downsizing)," Bilyea said on the sidelines of the Manitoba Swine Seminar in Winnipeg. "My fear would be that if this is not done carefully, we are going to get areas of the country where we have plants that just don't have enough hogs."
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