“BTW, chicken was still reasonably priced.”
You point out something important here by adding that point. The price of the ham went up almost 100% but the price of chicken did not? Even though the costs of labor, production, and delivery should have affected them both equally?
Far too obvious one is price gouging... the other is not.
The pigs are taking over and calling the chickens bird-brains for selling out too cheaply.
China is a large pork user. They have purchased several large producers. The demand for pork and hence price is much higher for pork. Also there is addition price pressure for pork with global supply falling.
The more hands touch something the higher the price.
If you are in business you know that.
Ham is pretty highly processed. Chicken is not.
Grocery stores are going low volume high price retail model. I’ll bet most food is thrown away. If they sell 2 at a really high price and row away 8 then they are still ahead. Less work.