Forward hog contract prices have been experiencing volatility.

Tyler Fulton is director of risk management with Hams Marketing Services.

"Forward markets have seen similar volatility as what a lot of other markets have been experiencing," he said. "The influence of the invasion in Ukraine from Russia has really kind of thrown a lot of market factors up in the air and there's just a ton of uncertainty associated with trade flows. Less so related to meat protein, but more so related to feed grains."

Fulton commented on the U.S. cash markets.

"Some uncertainty there. I think one of the driving factors of the market is just the degree to which the supply has shrunk in the U.S. compared to last year. Our year-to-date hog slaughter in the United States is down about eight per cent, which is a very large number, in particular for the first quarter of 2022."