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Retail Scanner Prices for Meat

Overview

The database contains monthly average retail price data for selected cuts of red meat and poultry, based on electronic supermarket scanner data. While not based on a random sample, the raw data underlying the database are from supermarkets across the United States that account for approximately 20 percent of U.S. supermarket sales.

Features

The April 2003 AmberWaves Data Feature contains a few examples on how meat prices respond to featuring and season.

Comparing Two Sources of Retail Meat Price Data (November 2009) compares scanner data with retail price data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), describing the differences between these two data sets and evaluating their relative strengths and weaknesses.

Data Files

Colorado State University's Livestock Market Information Center (LMIC) now houses the retail scanner prices for meat database, including standard tables, the searchable database, and documentation.

An overview and documentation of the database also are available on the ERS website.

Only random-weight items that are species-specific and sold in the fresh meat department of traditional supermarkets are included in the database. Multi-species items, canned meats, products containing meat (such as frozen dinners), and deli products are not included. Although most bacon and sausage are sold in fixed-weight packages, the database does contain information on random-weight bacon and sausage.

Release Date

LMIC updates are planned for the 20th of the month, or the closest business day. The data have a 2-month reporting lag; that is, prices for May are reported in July.

Background

Legislation passed in 1999 mandates collection of retail meat prices, and reflects in part concerns about the effects of industry concentration on prices and reduced bargaining power of independent livestock producers. Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics collects retail prices on some of the same cuts of meat, the ERS database includes price data on more cuts, information on volumes sold, and the discount effects of featuring.

ERS continues to use BLS prices to calculate meat price spreads from farm to wholesale and from farm to retail. However, users can compute alternative price spreads using the meat retail scanner price data.

Definitions

Item groupings by scanner data category gives examples of individual meat cuts that are in the scanner data categories (in ExcelExcel file format).

Scanner and BLS categories match BLS meat categories to the corresponding category in the retail scanner data (in ExcelExcel file format).

Definitions for the volume index, random-weight items, and other terms related to scanner data and meat prices.

Questions and Answers

Answers to questions such as: Which stores are included in the reporting of supermarket scanner data? How are data weighted to arrive at a national average price?

Related Briefing Rooms

Cattle
Hogs
Poultry
Food Marketing System in the U.S.

Related Resources

BLS Consumer Price Indexes

 

For more information, contact: William Hahn

Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov

Updated date: November 18, 2009