Our years-long nightmare of elevated bacon prices is over. Finally, US bacon prices have fallen back to somewhat normal levels.
Higher fuel and feed prices were making pigs expensive to raise in the US back in 2012 and 2013 and rising demand for bacon pushed up prices further. That was before the US herd was hit with a deadly virus that killed millions of pigs in 2014.
On July 17, the US Bureau of Labor statistics reported that the price of bacon in the US had risen after nine straight months of decline, indicating that prices may be stabilizing after years of being at elevated levels.
The drop in bacon prices over the last 12 months has been record setting. Since bacon prices hit their peak of $6.12 in June 2014, prices have fallen 17.1%. It was the the fastest 12-month decline in bacon prices in 23 years, with the exception of the May 2015 drop of 18.3% from a year earlier.
Commodities traders have priced pork lower too. The futures contracts for lean hogs on the CME are now trading 37% lower than the highs of March 2014.