Overview
This data set provides monthly average price values, and the differences among those values, at the farm, wholesale, and retail stages of the production and marketing chain for selected cuts of beef, pork, and broilers. In addition, retail prices are provided for beef and pork cuts, turkey, whole chickens, eggs, and dairy products.
Price spreads are reported for last 6 years, 12 quarters, and 24 months. The retail price file provides monthly estimates for the last 6 months. The historical file provides data since 1970.
For help understanding the data set, see About This Product and Documentation.
Data
| Data Set |
Last Updated |
Next Update |
 |
Beef values and price spreads |
May 15, 2012 |
Jun 14, 2012 |
|
Pork values and price spreads |
May 15, 2012 |
Jun 14, 2012 |
|
Retail prices for beef, pork, poultry cuts, eggs, and dairy products |
May 15, 2012 |
Jun 14, 2012 |
|
Summary of retail prices and price spreads |
May 15, 2012 |
Jun 14, 2012 |
|
Historical monthly price spread data for beef, pork, broilers, turkeys, and eggs |
Feb 17, 2012 |
Feb
20, 2013 |
|
Release Date
Data are released immediately after the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) updates its website for Consumer Price Indexes. See the 2012 ERS release calendar for specific dates.
Related Resources
The retail prices reported on this page are calculated using BLS data. ERS also had access to electronic supermarket scanner data for retail meat and poultry prices (see Related Data Products below). Comparing Two Sources of Retail Meat Price Data (November 2009) describes the differences between these two data sets and their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Beef and Pork Values and Price Spreads Explained (May 2004) examines how marketing costs affect livestock and meat prices in the short and long run. Slow price adjustment explains most of the month-to-month changes in beef and pork price spreads.
Related Data Products
Retail Scanner Prices for Meat contains monthly average retail price data for selected cuts of red meat and poultry, based on electronic supermarket scanner data. While not based on a random sample, the raw data underlying the database are from supermarkets across the United States that account for approximately 20 percent of U.S. supermarket sales.
Red Meat Yearbook presents monthly, quarterly, and annual data on commercial livestock slaughter and meat production; livestock and meat prices and price indexes; inventories of cattle, hogs, and sheep; and meat supply and utilization.
Price Spreads from Farm to Consumer offers two ways to compare farm-to-retail price spreads. The Marketing Bill is a composite estimate of the value added to agricultural products by the food marketing system for all types of food. At-Home Foods by Commodity Group evaluates farm and retail prices for foods belonging to each of several commodity groups.
Related Briefing Rooms
Food Marketing System in the U.S.
Cattle
Hogs
Poultry and Eggs
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