By Pattison Media

Consumer demand for pork will continue to influence hog prices

Feb 19, 2026 | 3:39 PM

Consumer demand for pork both domestically and internationally will continue to play a role in hog markets moving through 2026.  

Farm Credit Canada (FCC) released its 2026 Hog Outlook. It started out by saying 2025 was a good year for the Canadian and North American hog sectors and 2026 is expected to be similar.  

FCC Senior Economist Justin Shepherd said North American consumers are choosing pork more often in the grocery stores for multiple reasons. One being that pork has seen lower price inflation over the past three to fours years compared to the other proteins, including beef and chicken.  

Shepherd said from a global perspective and how that impacts Canadian pork demand, it really comes down to trade access and the ability to ship pork freely to places like the United States and China. 

“When we look at China continuing to have a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian pork, that remains a bit of an irritant for the industry as to where they send some of their cuts and getting that resolved in the future will definitely help,” Shepherd said. “The CUSMA renegotiations that are supposed to come up in the middle of the year will definitely have an impact throughout the rest of 2026 but, until anything changes, we continue to have free trade with the United States and producers can rely on that market.” 

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Shepherd said the other uncertainty right now is voluntary country of origin labelling that came into effect Jan. 1. Shepherd said any changes to demand or impact on a sector like the hog industry is something to watch for.

“Especially at some point when the United States gets their disease issues under control and they’re able to produce the amount of hogs that they would like to,” he added.  

Shepherd acknowledged trade uncertainty has been in the news a lot, but, looking at the year ahead, it’s an issue that the sector will continue to deal with over the next several months. 

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com