U.S. farmers are asking the government to buy more domestic pork to boost prices

Lead: Washington, April 12 (Reuters) - U.S pig farmers said on Friday they are asking the government to buy more hot dogs, patties and other pork products when implementing the federal funded school lunch program to help raise the low price of pork The National Council of pork producers (nppc) said it held talks this week with agriculture secretary wienemann to get the U.S government to buy more pork products as it implements its domestic and international "food programs." The USDA spends a huge amount of money every year to buy milk, beef, vegetables, fruits and other foods to supply the "Food Program" for poor families "We stress the need to take swift and decisive action to stimulate a pick-up in pork prices," nppc president Dave Roper said Since 1998, when pig prices fell to the lowest level in the past 50 years due to oversupply - $8 per hundredweight, today's U.S pig farmers are facing one of the lowest pig prices in history On Friday, the spot market for pigs in the Midwest traded at $27 to $28 A hundredweight, down considerably from $39 A hundredweight a month ago and $45 A hundredweight a year ago Most American pig farmers have a breakeven price of more than $35 per hundredweight The unexpected drop in pig market prices is mainly due to Russia's more than one month long import ban on poultry meat from the United States, which has allowed more chicken and turkey meat to enter domestic supermarkets in the United States, thus intensifying competition in the whole meat market Nppc said it had set up a task force to develop a long-term strategy to advance the pork industry (Note: one hundredweight = 50 kg)