7 U.S.C. § 1635j — Mandatory reporting for swine

(a) Establishment. The Secretary^* must establish a swine^* price-information reporting program that provides timely, accurate, and reliable market information; helps producers and others make better-informed marketing^* decisions; and promotes competition in the swine-slaughtering industry.
(b) General reporting provisions for packers and the Secretary.
(1) The Secretary must establish and run a price-reporting program under this section, including the required reporting and publication of information.
(2) Information required for packer-owned swine^* must include quantity and carcass characteristics, but not price.
(3) When information about purchase type is required, it must show the numbers and percentages for each purchase type among (A) packer-sold swine^* and (B) all other swine.
(4)(A) The Secretary must review the information packers must report at least once every 2 years. (B) After public notice and an opportunity to comment, and subject to (C), the Secretary must issue regulations requiring additional information if the review shows that (i) currently required information no longer accurately reflects how packers value and price swine, or (ii) packers slaughtering a significant majority of United States swine no longer use backfat or lean-percentage factors as price indicators. (C) The Secretary may not require new information that (i) packers generally do not have or maintain, or (ii) would otherwise be unduly burdensome to provide.
(c) Daily reporting: barrows and gilts.
(1)(A) For each of its business days, the corporate officers or officially designated representatives of each plant processing barrows or gilts must report to the Secretary the information the Secretary finds necessary and appropriate to meet this section’s publication requirements and give producers, packers, and other market participants timely access. (B) By 7:00 a.m. Central Time on each reporting day^*, the packer^* must report all barrows and gilts purchased or priced during its prior business day. By 9:00 a.m., it must report all barrows and gilts slaughtered during that prior business day. (C) The report must include all purchase data^*: the total number purchased; the total number scheduled for delivery; and the base price^* and purchase data for slaughtered barrows and gilts whose price has been established. It must also include slaughter data^* for all slaughtered barrows and gilts, including:
(I) Net price: the total paid by the packer to the producer^*, including premiums and minus discounts, per 100 pounds of carcass weight delivered at the plant. This includes an amount deducted from the price per hundredweight to repay a producer’s balance owed to the packer or build a balance the packer will later repay. It excludes an amount previously paid to the producer that the producer must later repay to the packer.
(II) Average net price: the amount paid for all barrows and gilts slaughtered during the applicable period, including premiums and discounts and the balance amounts just described, minus all discounts, divided by their total carcass weight measured in 100-pound increments. The result is stated per 100 pounds of carcass weight.
(III) Lowest net price: the lowest net price paid per 100 pounds of carcass weight for one lot^* or group slaughtered during the period.
(IV) Highest net price: the highest such net price.
(V) Average carcass weight: total carcass weight divided by the number of barrows and gilts slaughtered. The Secretary may adjust it for special slaughter situations, such as skinning or removing feet, to make weights comparable.
(VI) Average sort loss: the average discount, in dollars per 100 pounds of carcass weight, because the animals did not fall within the packer’s established carcass-weight or lot-variation range.
(VII) Average backfat: the average thickness in inches measured between the third and fourth ribs from the last ribs, 7 centimeters from the carcass split. The Secretary may adjust a packer’s measurement to that reference point.
(VIII) Average lean percentage: the average percentage of carcass weight that is lean meat. When required to report it, the packer must give the Secretary the underlying data, methods, formulas, and supporting materials. The Secretary may convert them to the packer’s carcass measurements or lean percentage so they correspond to a common lean-percentage measure.
(IX) Total slaughter quantity: the total number slaughtered during the period, including every purchase type and animals qualifying as packer-owned swine.
The report must also include packer purchase commitments: the number scheduled for delivery to the packer for slaughter on each of the next 14 calendar days. (D)(i) The Secretary must publish purchased-or-priced information by 8:00 a.m. Central Time and slaughter information by 10:00 a.m. on the reporting day when received, in a prior-day report. (ii) The publication must show net prices distributed across the range from the lowest to the highest reported price; the number at each price or, at the Secretary’s choice, within reasonable price bands; and the total number and weighted average price purchased through negotiated purchases and negotiated formula purchases.
(2)(A) By 10:00 a.m. Central Time each reporting day, each plant processing barrows or gilts must report: its best estimate of the total number expected to be purchased that day, including packer-owned swine, by purchase type; the total purchased so far that day, including packer-owned swine, by type; the base price paid so far for base market hogs bought through negotiated purchases; and the base price paid so far for base market hogs bought through each other type, unless delayed pricing makes that information unavailable. (B) The Secretary must publish this morning report as soon as practicable and no later than 11:00 a.m.
(3)(A) By 2:00 p.m. Central Time, each such plant must report the same four categories for the afternoon report: its best estimate for the day; purchases so far; negotiated-purchase base prices; and other-type base prices unless delayed pricing makes them unavailable. (B) The Secretary must publish the afternoon report as soon as practicable and no later than 3:00 p.m. (C) Information received after the reporting time must be included in the next day’s morning and afternoon reports.
(d) Daily reporting: sows and boars.
(1) Each packer of sows and boars must report, for each business day, information by hog class^* that the Secretary finds necessary and appropriate for publication and timely access by market participants. (2) By 9:30 a.m. Central Time, or another time the Secretary considers appropriate, each reporting day, it must report all sows and boars purchased or priced during its prior business day. (3) The report must include purchase data: (A) total sows and total boars, each divided into at least three reasonable and meaningful weight classes set by the Secretary; (B) packer-owned sows; (C) packer-owned boars; (D) average price for all sows; (E) average price for all boars; (F) average price for sows in each class; (G) average price for boars in each class; (H) numbers of sows and boars whose prices were set, by purchase type; (I) average prices for those sows and boars, by type; and (J) other information the Secretary considers appropriate. (4) It must leave packer-owned sows and boars out of all average-price calculations, price-range calculations, and reports under this subsection. (5) It need not report sows or boars bought by its agents at a public auction where title passes directly from the producer to the packer. (6) The Secretary must publish the information in a prior-day report by 11:00 a.m. Central Time on the day it is received. (7) The Secretary of Agriculture must allow the required information to be submitted electronically through an Agriculture Department website or equivalent electronic means.
(e) Weekly noncarcass-merit-premium report. (1) By 4:00 p.m. Central Time on the first reporting day of each week, each processing plant must report the categories of standard noncarcass merit premiums it used in the prior slaughter week^* and, for each category, the dollars per 100 pounds of carcass weight paid to producers. (2) On request, a packer must give a producer a current list of the dollar values per 100 pounds for each such premium used during the current or prior slaughter week. (3) A packer need not pay a listed premium, even to a producer who meets its requirements, if the packer’s need for swine in that category is filled at that time. (4) The Secretary must publish the information as soon as practicable and no later than 5:00 p.m. Central Time on the first reporting day of each week.