The director of risk management with Hams Marketing Services says the hog cash markets have been moving consistently lower over the last two months.

Tyler Fulton says it's not uncommon to see that type of trend at this time of year, however the magnitude of the price drop has been more significant than normal.

He notes there has been strong recovery in the futures markets in the last couple of weeks.

"There's a lot of volatility in the futures market right now, but the good thing is that the futures are providing a much better opportunity for producers to hedge their December price risk, which would be the time frame that would be at greatest risk of a cash market price collapse."

Fulton adds its difficult to tell if the US packers are getting close to reaching capacity.

He notes producers in the midwest are current with their offerings, adding that hog weights are an indication that hog flow is fairly current.