Bacon prices have gone up almost 28% in the last 12 months and are now the highest they have been, in constant dollars, in 40 years.
Experts told CNN that the record prices are due to a confluence of factors, including: the disruption to the pork supply chain caused by the pandemic; high overseas demand caused by herds in Asia decimated by swine fever; and exceptional domestic demand.
The pandemic-related problems are cascading over time. When pork plants had to shut down in early and mid-2020 due to COVID outbreaks, many hog producers had to euthanize their herds, and more thinned them out. Now that demand has rebounded, hog farmers don’t have enough animals to meet it; according to one estimate, pork production is expected to fall 2% this year over last.
Commodity pork prices should fall back to normal levels by June, an economist told CNN, but that will take some time to show up at the grocery store.
