USDA on Monday is expected to release a new fact sheet detailing its forthcoming shift from voluntary wholesale pork cutout reporting to mandatory reporting. Here's a look at USDA's Ag Marketing Service fact sheet highlighting key differences between the Mandatory and Voluntary Negotiated Spot Market Pork Reports:

Mandatory Report

1) Is based on volume and price information for all pork sales submitted to AMS by pork packing plants which meet the production threshold requirements of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting for Wholesale Pork.

2) Includes a greater number of participating packing plants than voluntary reporting.

Capturing data on a larger share of pork traded and updated equations reflecting current industry trading practices should improve cutout data quality.

3) Includes carlot (40,000 lbs truckload) and less-than-carlot volume transactions.

4) Includes transactions for North American Free Trade Agreement country destinations

5) Includes frozen product for all covered wholesale pork items.

6) Includes fresh and frozen transactions for variety meats harvested on the processing floor.

7) Product yields and estimated packaging costs were updated for the primal value and pork carcass cutout calculations.

Voluntary Report

1) Is based on volume and price information reported to AMS by pork packers, processors, brokers and retailers on a voluntary basis.

2) Includes mostly carlot volume transactions

3) Includes only U.S. destinations.

4) Does not include transactions for NAFTA country destinations.

5) Includes frozen product for trimmings only.

6) Does not include transactions for variety meats.

7) Product yields and estimated packaging costs were NOT updated for the primal value and pork carcass cutout calculations.

Data collected under Mandatory Reporting are being released on a seven-day delay to facilitate the pork industry's transition from voluntary to mandatory pork reporting. So far, the mandatory data appear to be generating higher cutout values than the voluntarily reported data. Some of the differences listed above contribute to that differential.

You can soon view the new reports by following this path: USDA AMS > Market News > Livestock, meats, poultry, eggs, grain and hay > Meat > Pork Reports