A glimpse of the pork production in the United States

Pork is the most widely consumed meat worldwide. The United States produced around 13.18 million metric tons in 2019 and it is the third country regarding pig production, which is lead by China. China produced around 34 million metric tons of pork in 2020 alone—nearly a million more than in the European Union. Therefore, nowadays […]

Pork is the most widely consumed meat worldwide. The United States produced around 13.18 million metric tons in 2019 and it is the third country regarding pig production, which is lead by China. China produced around 34 million metric tons of pork in 2020 alone—nearly a million more than in the European Union. Therefore, nowadays pork production costs are cheaper in US than in China. According to the USDA report of August 2020:

In swine farming in the U.S., pigs are allowed to roam freely, raised in a homestead or bred within intensive commercial units in an industrial farm system. The states of Iowa and Minnesota are the leading producer of hogs in the U.S., especially the first one.

During 2020, COVID-19 has caused a decline in pork processing and hog farmers are still facing massive losses due to the pandemic. However, according to USDA, pig production is little by little approaching pre-COVID rates of capacity utilization:  “Third-quarter pork production is trimmed back slightly to 7.2 billion pounds—7 percent above a year ago—as processors respond to moderate wholesale pork demand. June exports to China\Hong Kong more than offset significant reductions to most other large foreign buyers of U.S. pork. June pork exports were more than 3 percent higher than a year ago. Second-quarter exports were about 16 percent above a year ago”.