U.S. pork prices that already are the highest ever probably may rise further as hog producers pass along the increased costs of animal feed, said Steve Meyer, the president of Paragon Economics.
“There’s still a significant amount of upside risk on feed costs as we go into 2012,” Meyer said today in a speech at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa. “The industry is going to have to get those costs passed along at the wholesale level and the retail level. We are at record prices for pork, and we’re going to go up as we go through the year and into 2012.”
Retail pork reached $3.377 a pound in April, the highest ever, according to government data. On May 16, wholesale pork climbed to 98.31 cents a pound, the highest since at least October 1997, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.
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