Baconburger boom boosts pork belly prices

From Ceci Rodgers
CNN Correspondent

May 2, 2000
Web posted at: 4:01 p.m. EDT (2001 GMT)

CHICAGO (CNN) -- The American love affair with fast food is fueling a surge in the pork industry.

The price of pork has been steadily rising since early last year, boosting an industry that had been devastated by a recession in the late 1990s.

Bacon is behind the boom. Demand for the pork product in U.S. fast food outlets is soaring.

Concerns about E. coli bacteria have prompted many fast-food restaurants to cook their hamburgers longer. But along with killing the bacteria, the extra cooking time kills the taste of the meat. Adding bacon is an easy and inexpensive way to get some flavor back.

The bacon on a bacon double-cheeseburger, for instance, only costs "a few cents," according to Chuck Levitt of Alaron Trading Corp., a Chicago brokerage firm handing futures and options.

"So (the restaurants) will use an astounding amount of bacon on these sandwiches," he said.

That increase in consumption has led to an astounding rebound in the price of pork bellies, the portion of the pig used to make bacon.

Prices have nearly tripled since last summer. The average retail price is now about $2.52 per pound -- a record high in many markets. The previous record was $2.49 in August 1997.

What's more, prices are expected to stay high through the peak summer barbecue season.

But so far, consumers aren't balking. "We don’t have any repercussions with them backing off in demand," said Barbara Determan of the National Pork Producers Council.

Even so, pork producers are spending $26 million for a new television ad campaign to ensure that Americans continue to bring home the bacon.

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