Belly prices

[SmokinEdge]

In the last 6 months our local grocery has raised their fresh belly prices from $4 a pound to $6 a pound. This is getting out of hand.

 

[02ebz06]

Ouch! I saw on the news that the fed is investigating price gouging by the big chains.
Don't know if anything will come of it though.

 

[Hijack73]

And they are scarce again.

Food Lion is 5.99/lb and Publix is over 7. I don't even want to talk about beef.

 

[ConrodM]

I got lucky today then. Our Costco had about 10 out that I chose from

 

[jcam222]

The crazy thing is bacon has seemed to trend down. Lots of sales and specials the last few months.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Ouch! I saw on the mews that the fed is investigating price gouging by the big chains.
Don't know if anything will come of it though.

My local hog farmer told me that his hog feed is approaching 700 a ton. Pretty hard to get that back on rail weight without raising the price, and that feed is coming direct from our local farmers. No price gouge there I’ll promise. It just all adds up. It’s like value added. Everything that touches or effects that meat adds value. You and I just get to pay for it. That’s called inflation.

 

[DougE]

12% beef feed was actually down slightly, last winter, from the winter before last. Still wasn't cheap by any stretch though. The bad part of it is, is that we farmers can only sell calves for what they bring at auction and can't just up our price in line with operating costs. (I know you already know this).

 

[LoydB]

Over double that from a local organic farmer, it's crazy. The only cut that is still cheap here is bone-in pork butt.

 

[mr_whipple]

I haven't been to Costco recently, but their bellies have been up and down between 2.99 and 4.49. I grabbed one a few months ago and I tbink it was 3.29.

 

[PapaLlama]

In the last 6 months our local grocery has raised their fresh belly prices from $4 a pound to $6 a pound. This is getting out of hand.

Found some at Sam's yesterday for just above $4/lb. Still higher than it used to be, but not the worst out there.

 

[indaswamp]

If this keeps up, looks like I'll be back to buying whole hogs......butcher myself.....

 

[JLinza]

Prices are out of control, we need this to change for sure

 

[hondabbq]

$3.79 i just bought for up here in Canuckistan.

 

[fxsales1959]

In the last 6 months our local grocery has raised their fresh belly prices from $4 a pound to $6 a pound. This is getting out of hand.

my local latin market has been steady at$3.99/ lb for whole skin-on pieces. once in a great while they'll throw a flash sale at$2.49. choices are pretty good for bacon worthy slabs and still cheaper than store-bought bacon.

 

[indaswamp]

....Canuckistan.

LOL!!!!!!!

 

[SmokinEdge]

The defense I can muster up is that they bellies I’m buying are;
1) premium
2) half bellies that are squared at 10” wide and pre trimmed. Ready to cure and smoke then slice with no knife work.
3) skinless
Top end bacon around here runs ~10 bucks a pound, so there is still a $4 savings. I guess it’s the value added thing. Every time a product is touched there is value added, the price goes up, and these are fantastic bellies and pre trimmed. So the price still works I guess, but I can’t get over the 50% price increase in 6 months. That’s just nuts.

 

[indaswamp]

The defense I can muster up is that they bellies I’m buying are;
1) premium
2) half bellies that are squared at 10” wide and pre trimmed. Ready to cure and smoke then slice with no knife work.
3) skinless
Top end bacon around here runs ~10 bucks a pound, so there is still a $4 savings. I guess it’s the value added thing. Every time a product is touched there is value added, the price goes up, and these are fantastic bellies and pre trimmed. So the price still works I guess, but I can’t get over the 50% price increase in 6 months. That’s just nuts.

China had a massive die off of hogs from disease here recently. My guess is that more production is the US is going overseas and that is putting upward pressure on the price domestically.....

 

[Boris1]

store i buy meat from has pork bellies for 3.79/lb and excellent bacon for 3.39/lb in a 5 lb pack and i mean it some iof the best store bought bacon ive tried......the bellies were 2.79/lb when they first brought them but at these prices ill buy the already smoked and made bacon

 

[SmokinEdge]

China had a massive die off of hogs from disease here recently. My guess is that more production is the US is going overseas and that is putting upward pressure on the price domestically.....

Understandable given they own most all of the big commercial pork processing plant here in the states. That’s crazy too.

 

[nlife]

Seems like prices in the US are creeping closer to what I've been paying in British Columbia, Canada. Last few slabs of belly I bought were $50-60 for a large side, skin off. Still needed knife work and weren't necessarily 'bacon' quality if you know what I mean.