Bacon lovers in the U.S. are paying record prices during the seasonal summer peak for consumption, and costs may keep rising through August because smaller hog herds led to an unprecedented plunge in meat inventories.
Wholesale pork bellies, which are cured and sliced to make bacon, are up 72 percent in the past year to $1.4308 a pound, the highest price since at least 1998, government data show. Stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange tumbled 73 percent in the year through July as U.S. hog producers cut their herds to stanch losses in 2008 and 2009.
Prices usually climb in August, when tomatoes are ready for harvest in the Midwest and more people eat bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, said Altin Kalo, a commodity analyst for Steiner Consulting Group. While pork bellies will probably fall later this year as demand slows, the costs will be records for each month through year-end because of tight supplies, he said.
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