Beef and Pork Price Spreads and Farm Share of Retail Price

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Sources: USDA, Economic Research Service calculations based on U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service data.

Last update: 6/10/2022; next update: 7/13/2022

All fresh beef retail price is subject to revision for 3 months or 1 quarter.

Note: data on the 5-market steer and gross farm values are preliminary. Changes in these data will change the by-product allowance, the net farm value and all the price spreads except the wholesale-to-retail spread as well as the farmer’s share.

Farmers share is the farm share of retail value.

CARD provides these data as one of many indicators of whether the beef and pork markets are returning to pre-covid levels. For a discussion about these spreads, how they are derived and how they are impacted by marketing costs, see Lusk, Tonsor and Schulz (2020). Beef and Pork Marketing Margins and Price Spreads during COVID-19. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13101.