The new Ontario Pork policy will begin with hogs shipped on or after September 11, 2006 and is in response to increasing requests from Ontario Pork members. Settling U.S. sales in U.S. funds will make it easier for affected producers to match U.S. liabilities with U.S. assets, and pay expenses incurred in the U.S.

"We've been working on an automated system for settlement in U.S. funds for 18 months, but will be implementing a manual process first to enable us to respond more quickly to this request from our members," says Lloyd Bauernhuber, director of finance with Ontario Pork. "While we move forward with the manual process, we're continuing to investigate a fully automated system that will streamline the process in the future."

Ontario Pork currently ships approximately 125,000 hogs a year to the U.S. and estimates between 10 and 15 current members will benefit from the new policy. Producers must sell on a dollars in/dollars out basis to be eligible for payment in U.S. funds, will need to obtain a unique producer number for U.S. shipments only and have a U.S. dollar bank account to facilitate electronic funds transfer. The new policy does not apply to Pool or Pool Plus sales, or contracts with Canadian packers.

Producers interested in settlement in U.S. dollars can contact Ontario Pork's Producer Services Department to establish a new producer number and provide details of their U.S. dollar bank account.

Source: Ontario Pork - 28th July 2006