Hog Prices Hit 14-Year High As Supplies Dwindle

The price for Easter ham took a big jump Wednesday on the Chicago Board of Trade when hogs for April delivery rose by the daily limit of $3 per hundredweight to $90.12, a 14-year high for the most active contract.

Hog prices surged on news that South Korea, which has had to kill about 25 percent of its domestic herds because of hoof-and-mouth disease, said it would suspend import duties for several months.

South Korea is the fourth-largest buyer of American pork.

The Korean news further tightens world supplies after German exports were restricted because of dioxin contaminants found in some of its herds.

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