| An inverse live hog demand model was estimated to analyze claims that the live hog own quantity demand flexibility's magnitude has increased in recent years. A second objective of this research was to estimate the impact changes in processing capacity utilization rates have on live hog prices. Iowa - Southern Minnesota barrow and gilt price was modeled as a function of average daily hog slaughter, a processing capacity utilization ratio, an index of processing and marketing costs, a retail demand shift index, pork cold storage stocks, and monthly binary variables. Results indicate that in recent years live hog prices have become more responsive to changes in hog slaughter. Additionally, changes in processing capacity utilization rates, at times, also have... |
