Pork Continues to be a Driver in the Retail Meat Case

Pork became a driver at the retail meat case during 2020, with increases in pounds sold and price-per-pound sold. According to Neal Hull, director of channel marketing with the National Pork Board, pork sales outpaced other meat sales in the category.

“The good news for pork total pork for the year was up, 11.1 percent. So, it’s 613 million pounds and it outpaced the total meat department total meat department was up, 10.3. So again, really, really, good news for pork dollar sales were up 18 percent that’s on par with total meat.”

Hull says growth in fresh pork sales outpaced the total meat category with a more than 10 percent jump, and ground pork purchases were up more than 16 percent on a volume standpoint.

“The shining star for 2020 in the pork, that was ground floor. We’ve seen strong ham sales, we’ve seen strong bacon sales, and on the fresh side ribs and shoulders have really outpaced the category. While we’ve seen growth across all cuts those two have really seen some nice growth.”

Hull added that the pandemic has changed how consumers think about food, prepare food and buy food.

“One area that I think will be a bright spot for producers and for port going forward is e-commerce. We’ve seen a huge spike in growth across the retail categories and there’s a lot of work being done right now to ensure that pork shows up in the e-commerce space the way it needs to show up.”

Hull is hopeful for continued strong sales of pork at the meat case, spurred on by at-home cooks. He says the Pork Checkoff is using the Real Pork platform to get information to consumers about how pork is raised, fits into a nutritious diet and can be prepared with a variety of flavors. For more information, log on to pork.org.

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