Bacon sales sustained demands in United States

Despite channel shifting from nearly 60% of US bacon being sold at foodservice to almost all being sold at retail in 2020, the demand for bacon has remained rock solid. According to an economist for the pork industry, market prices had nothing to do with Americans’ insatiable appetite for pork, but instead had everything to do with pork processors coping with COVID-19-related closures combined with the logistics of reconfiguring foodservice-serving plants for retail customers and creating production lines that keep front-line workers safe. “When we took bellies to 30¢ [per lb] at the very beginning of April last year, it had nothing to do with consumer-level demand,” said Steve Meyer, PhD, consulting economist with the National Pork Board and National Pork Producers Council, “it had everything to do with the fact that we couldn’t process them all.” Historically, belly pricing is routinely volatile, Meyer said, with the bulk of the supply going to supply restaurants with bacon. ...