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If you are a fan of bacon, you may want to read this! The price of bacon has increased nearly 50% over the past 10 years... and those prices are not going down in the near future.
For example in August 2011, $4.77 was the price of bacon, now fast forward to August of this year, bacon prices are approximately $7.09 - according to data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
While inflation is definitely a contributor to the higher prices, the high prices are actually due to a lack of competition in the meat processing industry. The White House commented on this:
"While factors like increased consumer demand have played a role, the price increases are also driven by a lack of competition at a key bottleneck point in the meat supply chain: meat-processing,"
There are only four companies that are meat processing pork, beef, and poultry in the United States, according to the White House report.
Analysts that are studying this closely warn that prices for meat could remain high due to slaughterhouse struggle to maintain production levels. Similarly, prices for carrots, potatoes, and other produce remain high due to transportation issues, as well as the health of the workers that pick and process these plants.
Prices for food started to go up in March of 2020 when the COVID pandemic began to impact consumers.
It may be smart to stock up on bacon for the time being!