insights -- Feburary 2018 - 3

sows and those that finish and market live hogs (barrows
and gilts). Most operations are farrow-to-finish
operations. The industry is highly integrated, with most
major pork processors producing a sizeable percentage
of the live hogs they process.
Nationwide, more than 60,000 pork producers
annually market more than 117 million hogs. On
average, these animals provided total gross income of
more than $20 billion in 2016. USDA data reveals that
there were 621 federally inspected hog slaughter plants
in the U.S. in 2016 that slaughtered 117.388 million hogs.

Chicken/Poultry Sector
The U.S. has the largest broiler chicken industry in
the world and it is highly integrated. Approximately
35 companies are involved in the business of raising,
processing and marketing chickens on a "vertically
integrated" basis. About 25,000 family farmers have
production contracts with the companies. Approximately
95% of broiler chickens are produced on these farms,

with the remaining 5% raised on company-owned
farms. The top five broiler-producing states are Georgia,
Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi.

2. PRODUCTION AND
CONSUMPTION
Production
Production of beef, pork and broilers 2014-2016
inclusive saw beef production decline to a multi-year low
in 2015. This was because extreme drought conditions in
2010-2012 forced significant beef cow herd liquidation.
Production has since recovered as beef producers started
aggressively rebuilding their cow herds in 2014. Pork
production exceeded beef production in 2015 but then
slipped back. Broiler production increased slightly over
the three-year period and will continue to do so.

Production of beef, pork and broilers
(billions of pounds)
Production

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Beef

24.250

23.698

25.221

26.305

27.590

Pork

22.843

24.501

24.941

25.560

26.915

Broilers

38.565

40.048

40.695

41.541

42.275

(Source: USDA - actual data and 2017 and 2018 forecasts)

3



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of insights -- Feburary 2018

insights -- Feburary 2018 - 1
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