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United States News

America's Pile of Uneaten Bacon Is the Biggest in 48 Years (bloomberg.com) 218

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
America is sitting on a mountain of uneaten bacon. From a report: More than 40 million pounds (18,000 metric tons) of pork bellies, the cut used for bacon making, were sitting in refrigerated warehouses as of Sept. 30, according to U.S. government data released Tuesday. That's the most for the month since 1971. The overhang came after a build up in the American hog herd. Pork output surged over the summer months and through September, said Dennis Smith, senior account executive at Archer Financial Services. Bellies have seen a magnified inventory increase because demand is mostly domestic, unlike cuts such as ham, for which overseas buying can help reduce reserves. Hog producers started building up their herds in anticipation of more demand for meat imports from China, where African swine fever has killed millions of pigs. The U.S. herd swelled to 77.7 million head. as of Sept. 1, a record for the month and the highest since 1943 considering all periods, the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.
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America's Pile of Uneaten Bacon Is the Biggest in 48 Years More

America's Pile of Uneaten Bacon Is the Biggest in 48 Years

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  • become news for farmers?

  • Price? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kiaser Zohsay ( 20134 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:20PM (#59340366)

    If there is such an over-supply, and demand is not rising to meet it, why is the price of bacon in my local store not dropping?

    • Re:Price? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by CrimsonAvenger ( 580665 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:24PM (#59340388)

      If there is such an over-supply, and demand is not rising to meet it, why is the price of bacon in my local store not dropping?

      Because your local store (or, more likely, the store that supplies it) bought the bacon months ago, at the prices that were current at the time.

      An oversupply NOW means lower prices in the future, not lower prices instantly....

      • Re:Price? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by FictionPimp ( 712802 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:36PM (#59340436) Homepage

        Unless the price goes up, then it's immediate and not in the future. ;-)

      • I'm SO freakin ready for dirt cheap bacon! I will eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

      • Why is it then when current events are negative for barrels of oil, the price is instantly reflected at the gas pump.

        • Because producers would like to sell their goods for a higher price, and bad news provides cover for doing so. (Be it oil or pork bellies)

          Also, oil price is dominated by a cartel, so they can get away with it. Because there isn't anyone around who can be the one to not raise prices and keep them in check.

          • Here is a math problem for you.

            You own a gas station.

            Today, you have 10,000 gallons of gas.

            Next week, you're going to need to spend $40,000 to refill your tanks.

            How much do you have to charge per gallon in order to have enough money to refill your tanks?

            Your answer?

            Note I've given enough information to solve the problem. The amount you spent to refill the tanks last week is irrelevant to the price you need to get in order to refill them next week.

      • Unlike gasoline, which will raise in price within 2 seconds of a fart in Saudi Arabia. Because supplies here have zero to do with the price of Saudi oli, but....

    • Re:Price? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:28PM (#59340396)
      Because the uneaten pork is being stockpiled as the summary states instead of excess quantity being released to stores. If they weren't able to put it into storage, then it would have to go on the market and the prices would have to come down in order to get it to sell through fast enough.

      The reason the prices haven't dropped is that all of the people want to sell these pork bellies want to do so at existing (or higher) prices. If there's no opportunity to export it (e.g., more trade spats with China) then it eventually will get put out on to the market here (assuming no one else wants to import more pork) and that's when the price is going to drop. The same thing happens with all kinds of agricultural commodities all the time. No one really bats an eye when a farmer puts his grain in a bin for a few months in the hopes that prices go up later in the year.

      • Re:Price? (Score:5, Funny)

        by PolygamousRanchKid ( 1290638 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:58PM (#59340500)

        Because the uneaten pork is being stockpiled as the summary states instead of excess quantity being released to stores.

        Could we maybe stockpile the bacon along the Mexican border? Ya, know, we build a Great Big Wall of Bacon?

        • Could we maybe stockpile the bacon along the Mexican border? Ya, know, we build a Great Big Wall of Bacon?

          Muslim ban?

        • Ya, know, we build a Great Big Wall of Bacon?

          NO. No, we can't.

          Never mind them digging tunnels to get here, I'D be digging multiple tunnels turning it into Swiss cheese so they could still walk right thru. (Swiss Bacon? Is that a thing?)

        • Because the uneaten pork is being stockpiled as the summary states instead of excess quantity being released to stores.

          Could we maybe stockpile the bacon along the Mexican border? Ya, know, we build a Great Big Wall of Bacon?

          If that doesn't work, I can you know, "help America stay Great" by making a little room in my freezer. Freedom isn't free, and I'm willing to pay the price! (As long as the price is $2 a pound for bacon.)

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by tomhath ( 637240 )

        If there's no opportunity to export it (e.g., more trade spats with China)...

        Read the summary again. The excess bacon is a side effect of producing more ham, which is being exported. The market for bacon hasn't changed.

    • Because bacon is like diamonds

    • Because you are paying for it.

      The farmers are loosing money, but the producers who focus on the US market are making a lot of money.

    • Exactly. This is a self correcting problem. I have actually assumed the opposite as lately bacon has been really expensive locally so I have been avoiding buying it instead waiting until it drops to buy it. When bacon is more expensive than other meat choices which it seems to be right now then I naturally tend to buy the other meat choices instead.

    • My question exactly.

      Ten years ago, bacon was about $3.60 a pound. Then sometime in 2010 it shot to $4.50 a pound. In 2015, it shot to $5.50 a pound. In late 2017, it crept to over $6.00 a pound. With all this over supply, it is still running about $5.50 a pound. So it is still way above any kind of inflation adjusted rate.

      Give me cheap bacon, I will stick it in my own freezer.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by matthewd ( 59896 )

        Could depend on where you buy it and what brands, I regularly pay $4.00 - $4.50 per pound and that is not even the cheapest bacon on sale in the stores I frequent.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Bacon does not do that well in a freezer. That is why they store the raw material instead. But as to the prices, this looks very much like price fixing. Which is legal if you do not actually talk about it and everybody just silently agrees.

    • Because they are, wait for it... hogging it!

      I'll be here all week, tip the waitress.

    • If there is such an over-supply, and demand is not rising to meet it, why is the price of bacon in my local store not dropping?

      My guess is Supply-side economics doesn't work and the Chicago School is garbage?

      We should Green New Deal this, turn lemons into lemonade,. Bail out farmers and turn the bacon into renewable energy.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Because beacon is not really a luxury item. Hence demand is pretty stable and lower prices do not actually increase demand. And those making the prices know that.

  • Stunning considering what has bacon in it lately (Score:3, Insightful)

    by magarity ( 164372 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:20PM (#59340370)

    Is it just my imagination or has 'with bacon' taken over just about every food category? And there's still a surplus??

    • Is it just my imagination or has 'with bacon' taken over just about every food category? And there's still a surplus??

      I blame "meatless Mondays".

      I'm not sure if I'm joking.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      We should take the excess bacon and store it in a Strategic Bacon Reserve. We could locate that next to the Strategic Pumpkin Spice Reserve.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Is it just my imagination or has 'with bacon' taken over just about every food category? And there's still a surplus??

      Yes, that's why everyone is adding bacon to everything - the surplus means it's cheaper and thus all the fast food places (which are very price sensitive) see the glut as an opportunity to add bacon to everything because they can get it cheap and sell it to you for an extra $2.

      As for where the cheap bacon is at, well, it's being stockpiled because they want to keep prices high - the companie

  • Adding bacon to a dish is a relatively cheap way to add some flavor to an otherwise relatively bland tasting meal. No wonder that, in the past few years, all the chain restaurants went crazy about adding bacon. They're already almost asking "would you like bacon with that"?

    • Re:Bacon everywhere (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Holi ( 250190 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:33PM (#59340418)
      Except their bacon is surprisingly tasteless.

      • Except their bacon is surprisingly tasteless.

        It's pre-baked and shipped to the "restaurant" between sheets of paper. And it's not even baked at high temperature, so it doesn't get any real flavor developed. As it turns out, it's not that surprising.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gweihir ( 88907 )

          "Pre-baked bacon"? I knew large parts of US cuisine are not that good (notable exception: Washington D.C.), but this is a crime against humanity!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Really good bacon is delicious. Mediocre or bad bacon is something to run away from screaming (figuratively).

    • > Adding bacon to a dish is a relatively cheap way to add some flavor to an otherwise relatively bland tasting meal.

      It's not the bacon that has that effect. I'd expect that all of the sodium in that bacon is responsible for boosting the flavor. The same effect could be had with just adding (more) salt...

  • Over production explained (Score:5, Funny)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @04:35PM (#59340430)

    Hog producers started building up their herds in anticipation of more demand for meat imports from China, ...

    Too much winning.

    • This won't age well. Word on the street is, the initial trade agreement is just about done.

      • Just like the last time the word on the street was the initial trade agreement was just about done.

      • Re:This won't age well (Score:5, Informative)

        by uvajed_ekil ( 914487 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @07:53PM (#59341034)

        This won't age well. Word on the street is, the initial trade agreement is just about done.

        That must mean more tariffs, right? Because tariffs and a trade war are supposedly a good thing (with China paying for it all, just like Mexico is paying for the border wall that should be complete any time now), locking up Crooked Hillary was a priority, there was massive but unprovable voter fraud in 2016, abuse of power isn't a crime, withholding foreign aid for political favors doesn't qualify as quid pro quo (except when your spokesman says it does and explicitly says that you do that sort of thing all the time), and anyone who disagrees with the President on anything is by definition "human scum" including members of his own party. Cool, I get it now.

  • Feed the refugees ... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by PPH ( 736903 )

    ... coming in from the Middle East.

  • this is what happens when I quit eating bacon. I was eating way too much :-P

  • Meatless Mondays save the planet (Score:3)

    by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @05:39PM (#59340642) Homepage Journal

    Remember, downshift your red meat consumption and you can reduce carbon impacts by 70 percent. Let's say you go from cattle beef to scrub-fed beefalo (bison), which reduces the impact to 1/10th due to how they're fed and watered, or you go from bacon once a day to bacon once a week and cut it by 1/7th.

    Lower down the food chain, think about the fertilizer and land and water used, actions speak louder than words.

    • Remember, downshift your red meat consumption and you can reduce carbon impacts by 70 percent.

      What does that have to do with this? This story is about the other white meat.

      • Did you actually read the comment you replied to? It directly addressed bacon reduction.

        Bacon, the other white meat.

        • Did you actually read the comment you replied to? It directly addressed bacon reduction.

          Yes, but you opened that paragraph with a message about red meat consumption, and then switched horses in mid-stream.

          Speaking of which, the Feds are sitting on a bunch of wild horses and feeding them at our expense, we should eat those too.

          • Meat is meat. I always eat vegans, it's better.

            • Yah I mean... wait... you eat vegans?

            • Meat is meat. I always eat vegans, it's better.

              But are they certified vegans? Even a deer will eat a baby chick, and most vegans cheat when they drink. And they eat meat then, too.

              • But are they certified vegans? Even a deer will eat a baby chick, and most vegans cheat when they drink. And they eat meat then, too.

                I never ask them if they have Microsoft or Novell or Red Hat certification. It's not polite to talk with one's mouth full.

    • If it means cutting my bacon intake - future generations can fend for themselves...

    • Remember, downshift your red meat consumption and you can reduce carbon impacts by 70 percent. Let's say you go from cattle beef to scrub-fed beefalo (bison), which reduces the impact to 1/10th due to how they're fed and watered, or you go from bacon once a day to bacon once a week and cut it by 1/7th.

      Lower down the food chain, think about the fertilizer and land and water used, actions speak louder than words.

      Well, actually, I power my Mercedes 240D with the grease I collect after cooking the bacon, so this would only increase my overall carbon impact.

      • Well, actually, I power my Mercedes 240D with the grease I collect after cooking the bacon, so this would only increase my overall carbon impact.

        You should use the bacon grease for your solowheel.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Actually, you cannot. Most of "your" CO2 comes from "your" part of the industrial production base, not from what you eat.

  • For the past couple years I could get 3 lbs of bacon on sale for about $2.50/lb, these deals came up often enough that having a a couple packs of bacon in the freezer was a given. For the past 6 months I've been going through my frozen bacon while looking for another sale, with no joy.

    Haven't seen a 3 lb package of bacon on sale for a year now. If there is a surplus, then where is it?
  • That's not really a realistic problem, but I'll help!
  • College's and University's consume approximately 56 million lbs of bacon annually alone. We hardly have even 6 months reserve. What have we allowed? Our country is on the precipice of a bacon disaster. We must raise our reserve levels to an appropriate level.
  • they are going to farm any product needed to get more free gov money.
    In a free market system the lack of buying would correct the over production.

  • We need more tomatoes and more lettuce and more toasty bread.
    Problem solved.

  • Trade wars are good, and easy to win

    Take it from da man hissef [cnbc.com]. I guess this means more bacon for me. Now if only the price would crash.

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