Bacon shortages?

[Donw]

Bloomberg News this morning relayed a warning from the Smithfield company that the US might face shortages of bacon in 2020. The China hog crisis has severely reduced the number of pork bellies available there. As China is a very large consumer of pork they will increase their imports which could cause shortages across the world. My summary of the news is that bacon is going to cost more no matter what.☹️

[Uncle Bob]

True or not I find such stories strange. Why just the belly? Each belly comes with pork chops, ham, butt, etc attached (yes, I understand that there's a specific financial market in bellies, but still...………). "News" reporting has to be at an all time low (and I don't mean just politics).

[pkadare]

Frozen pork belly futures used to be traded on the Chicago Mercantile exchange as a hedge against rising pork prices (remember Trading Places). Trading was halted in 2011. In May of this year, the CME allowed trading in Fresh Bacon futures.

[smokin fool]

The pessimist in this see's this as a planned shortage, jack up the prices and they'll never come down.
Consumer gets jobbed again.

[Steve B]

That sounds just about right.

[jumbo7676]

I was just reading yesterday about the pig shortage in China. African swine flu is causing major issues with the pork supply. Some interesting things going on (if what I read is accurate). Some Chinese pig farmers are trying to breed much larger pigs. Cities and provinces are releasing some of their frozen pork reserves to keep prices under control. I didn't know frozen pork reserves were a thing, but apparently they have them at the local and national level to stabilize prices during emergencies because pork is such an integral part of the Chinese diet. Local governments are being asked to free up money to put towards artificial insemination technology to help farmers breed more hogs. The government is trying to convince people to eat less pork. They're going hog wild over there!

I'm no economist or international trade expert. In fact, I'm no more informed on the topic other than a few articles I read yesterday, but I would think that bacon isn't the only pork product that will see rising prices given the massive shortages that are predicted in China.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-is-hungry-for-protein-and-the-global-steaks-are-high-11569236529

https://www.insider.com/china-hog-farmer-breeds-polar-bear-sized-pig-pork-shortage-2019-10

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/business/china-pork-reserves-african-swine-fever/index.html

[Troutman]

[mountainsmoker]

I wouldn't worry to muck about it. NC and IA can up production quickly. as well as some of the other hog producing states. It may hurt a little at first as they ramp up but pigs reproduce pretty rapidly.

Eat more pork

[Craigar]

"pigs reproduce pretty rapidly", that's no joke. Just ask the ranchers in Oklahoma and Texas. I have heard, just to maintain the current population of feral hogs they have to eradicate 70% every year.

[parkerj2]

Eat better pork, from small farms.

[KenC52]

Not gonna be a problem here!