U.S. faces meat shortage while its pork exports to China soar

reuters.com

21 points·ping_pong··8 comments

This article contradicts my (sample size of one) observations at local grocery stores (in central PA, USA). Pork has been and remains the cheapest meat in the grocery store and there's pork there even when beef and chicken shelves are empty. In contrast, I just ordered a 1/4 cow from a local farm because beef prices have continued to go up. Fortunately, we have a large freezer! During the COVID-19 pandemic, the meat that is hardest to purchase is chicken wings.

Here's an interesting question ... if pork is so cheap, why are bacon and ham so expensive?

The problem is meat processing plants, not the abundance of livestock.

Anecdotally, I've eaten 1.5 lbs of chicken wings 4 days a week for the last 2 weeks or so. Just bought another 9lbs a few hours ago.

I suspected that meat shortages are localized (much like the R(t) of the new coronavirus.

Guess we know who's responsible for the shortage!

To be fair, finding cheap pork in Central PA isn't hard -- is farm country, yo. We used to get 1/2 pig or 1/4 cow packages from local Mennonite farms.

But I'm guessing the issue is processing -- bacon requires salting and smoking, and ham usually has steps to it as well. If those factories can't be made worker-safe then nothing gets brined & smoked -- no bacon :(

I've been noticing these "meat shortage" stories recently, but not seeing any evidence yet. Are news outlets trying to stir up a story or panic? Seems self fulfilling if people start hoarding.

I'd imagine that, much like running off of a UPS during a power failure, nothing obvious would happen until warehouses and other reserves are depleted.

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