The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) applauded today’s release of a final rule to implement the wholesale pork reporting provision of the federal mandatory price reporting law, which requires meat packers to report price data to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).
NPPC worked to get the reporting provision included in legislation that reauthorized in September 2010 the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act and helped develop the regulation as part of a negotiated rulemaking process.
The rule outlines what information packers will be required to submit to AMS, how the information should be submitted and other requirements. Packers will be required to submit the price of each sale, quantity and other characteristics, such as the type of sale, item description and destination of the product. AMS will use the data to produce timely, meaningful market reports.
“America’s pork producers are grateful for USDA’s cooperation in helping develop this valuable tool for pork producers since it is becoming increasingly common to sell hogs based on the cutout price,” says NPPC President R.C. Hunt, a pork producer from Wilson, NC. “This important addition to the price reporting law allows for a more competitive market and will provide greater transparency in the livestock market.”