Pricey beef has hog farmers betting consumers will eat more pork
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Pork producers have been under pressure as meat demand has not kept pace with supplies and higher crop prices made it more expensive to feed herds.
PHOTO: AFP
CHICAGO – American hog farmers are betting cash-strapped consumers will grill more pork and eat more pepperoni as beef prices surge, feeding a turnaround for an industry that has been struggling for more than a year.
The smallest US cattle herd since the 1950s is making beef too expensive for shoppers, who have seen prices climb month after month and mostly exhausted savings from the Covid-19 pandemic. With a lot of pork to go around, producers are now banking on consumers ordering more sausage and pepperoni pizzas and on demand rising during the grilling season, with the July 4 Independence Day holiday approaching.