As far as support for the pork industry goes, the chair of the committee suggested that $20 per hog may not even be enough. As business owners, we are prepared to assume some of the risk. We are well aware that prices fluctuate.
According to our estimates, $20 per hog could help us get through the crisis in the next few weeks. We're not asking the government for a full support program. We just need help to get through the crisis.
We are producing about 27 million hogs per year, so that will give you the range of numbers. We hope that this help will be enough and that the market will pick up. That's the idea.
For how long? We believe, according to the futures markets, that the next six months will be really tough. That's what the futures contracts are saying, but we hope that we will get through this period. What we see are some business risk management programs that should be upgraded. That's work that is already on the table for the government. Hopefully, it will sort out some of these problems in the long term.