Posted on 05/02/2023 5:37:26 PM PDT by nickcarraway
One of the greatest frustrations I have is looking at prices at the meat counter. We’ve all seen the extremely high beef prices and wonder why pork hasn’t made a run on demand relative to value compared to beef. I was recently talking to a producer and his thought was if we have consumption of 50 pounds of pork per-capita at a retail value of $4 per pound, each individual in the U.S. could buy all their pork for $200 today. This is a real value relative to beef and a great buy for families trying to offset inflated food prices.
In comparison, the cutout value for beef in mid-April was 3.85 times higher than the pork cutout price. At this price, it would take $800 to buy a similar amount of beef per person. For a family of four, pork has a $2,400 advantage annually. What a great way to help fight food inflation! With the quality and taste of pork today, along with the price advantage, as an industry we need to use the advantages pork provides to increase demand.
CAPTURE MORE MARKET SHARE
One area where pork needs to continue to be positioned is in food service. Looking at total food expenditures (illustrated below) the annual consumer spends more of their food budget outside of the house rather than making meals at home. Outside of 2019 and the impact of most restaurants being closed during COVID-19, it appears this trend will continue.
Going forward, one thing is for certain: the average consumer will be spending more money for ease of preparation and convenience of meals in order to spend more time with their families. As an industry how do we evolve to capture more market share and to be considered as the protein of choice for families in the future?
Graph 1
DEVELOP NEW PRODUCT OFFERINGS For starters, the industry needs to continue to develop markets in the U.S. as well as abroad with an expanded product offering with National Pork Board promotional dollars. With consumer preferences changing, we can no longer be content on selling whole loins at retail outlets. The average consumer doesn’t know what to do with a 17- to 22-lb. pork loin and this won’t change.
Recently, I was in a large retail outlet store and watched a woman pick up a whole loin. I could tell she liked the price because I could see her looking at the label and comparing it to beef. After putting it into her cart, she paused and put it back. My intuition told me she simply didn’t know what to do with a whole pork loin. As an industry, we need to keep developing product offerings that are easy to prepare, of high quality, nutritious and taste great. This will attract new consumers as well as expand the base consumer of our products today.
PROTEIN OF CHOICE This marketing role doesn’t only reside with the National Pork Board and packers. Producers need to help market by positioning their pork as the protein of choice. Sustainability will continue to drive buying decisions by consumers, and producers will be responsible to make sure they can supply their information to end users that show the advantage of pork over beef. The data already exists on a small scale.
Producers, regardless if they own the pigs or are a grower, need to work together to provide a sustainability score to end users to promote their product. Most producers already have the data, and with current production methods and genetic improvements the average pork producer has strived to be more sustainable before it was a buzz word. It is time to start sharing the improvements you have made to your operations and start promoting your product. We already have the data and story, but we need to tell that story while continuing to develop product offerings.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Great... You let the Pig out of the bag.
It was secret that has been saving us a lot of money. Now it will go viral and they will raise the prices.
Some things are best left unsaid... lol
recent posting on FR I think, said pigs have been given mrna vaccines for years, cows up for them soon, this month?
Really. Shut the hell up. I’ve been paying $1.99 a pound.
Well, one reason is that pork is obviously neither kosher or halal so there’s that for you.
does that include bacon?
seems low
Lol! Same here, a little more but still not too bad yet. Right now if it goes up we will not be able to afford any meat at all.
I prefer pork and poultry to beef, anyway.
My wife and l have bought either half or a whole beef each year from a neighbor for many years. We decided to buy a whole hog this year as well. The processing per pound was the same, the pork cost less than half the beef per pound. We were quite surprised. I’m actually getting tired of bacon!
First World problems....
I LOVE pork
Ah pork the other white meat
Tomahawk pork chops.
They need to develop a ground pork product that competes with ground beef.
Hamburgers are one of the most popular foods in the USA. Why shouldn’t they be made out of real ham instead of beef?
I think China runs much of the US pork business now since they own Smithfield Foods and all of the Smithfield brands.
“On September 6, 2013, the US government approved Shuanghui International Holding’s purchase of Smithfield Food, Inc. The deal was valued at approximately $7.1 billion, which included debt. It was the largest stock acquisition by a Chinese company of an American company.[8][32][35] The deal included Smithfield’s 146,000 acres of land, which made WH Group one of the largest overseas owners of American farmland.[9][b]”
They need to develop a ground pork product that competes with ground beef.”
I have bought ground pork before but not all places have it. The burger joints should add some pork burgers at their places.
We are abjuring Pork, and beef also, until we learn how to distinguish between meat with the MRNa in it and the less lethal varieties.
If you click on the US Business and International Business links at the WH Group link above, you’ll see all the brands that are Chinese now.
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