Pork producers can see the light of profits at the end of a tunnel of losses, according to Purdue University Extension economist Chris Hurt.

Average losses of $18 per head over the past year have been largely driven by high feed prices.

“Feed prices reached a summit in the third quarter of 2012 with the peak of the drought,” Hurt said. “Estimated total hog production costs shot up $10 per live hundredweight, reaching an estimated $72. Costs last fall and this winter dropped about $4 per hundredweight and are expected to moderate an additional $8 with normal 2013 crop production.”