Despite rising pork prices in recent months, retail and carcass prices in the U.S. are still relatively low when compared with prices in other countries, says Dermot Hayes, Iowa State University economist.
In a new report issued on Jan. 26, economists with Iowa State University, North Carolina State University and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) found that pork prices have risen because of strong demand for U.S. pork, higher input costs and labor shortages throughout the supply chain, not concentration in the meatpacking industry.
The report’s authors, including Hayes, NC State’s Barry Goodwin and NPPC’s Holly Cook, also found that pork prices in the U.S. are still lower than in many other countries.
Today’s pork packing industry is made up of fewer and larger plants than it was 50 years ago, but the structure of the industry has changed little in recent decades, the report shows.
Concentration levels are about 7% lower than they were five years ago because of new packing plants that opened from 2017 to 2020. Four of those five plants are at least partially producer-owned, the report points out. More than 100 industries had a greater concentration level, according to a commonly used calculation, the report noted.
“This report shows the concentration level in the pork packing industry is not significantly higher than it was 15 years ago,” NPPC President Jen Sorenson said in a release. “The recent increase in pork prices is driven by strong pork demand, rising input prices, higher wages and supply chain bottlenecks throughout the industry.”
The report also revealed no evidence that significantly higher profits are being captured at the wholesale level during this time of higher retail prices. The farm-to-wholesale price spread – which consists of packers’ costs and profits – has been shrinking while the wholesale-to-retail spread has increased over the past six months. Packer gross margins also are estimated to be within their 5-year average range, according to the report.
Retail pork prices have increased rapidly due to strong demand for U.S. pork as well as added costs and labor shortages at every level of the supply chain, the authors explain. Changes in retail prices are historically not correlated with changes in concentration level.
“Americans pay less for pork, not more than consumers in most other nations,” Sorenson said in a release. “That includes big pork-producing countries such as Canada, Denmark and Germany.”
To read the report, click here.
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