Pork Butt prices

[Sailor1]

Went to Costco today to pick up 30 pounds of Butt and about flipped out over the price.  Last time I bought some Butt from Costco it was $1.89 a pound and today I paid $2.59 a pound.  That is about a 37% increase.  I know there is a virus out there that is killing the baby piggies and this is having a big impact on the price. 

The thing that floors me is that I am going to make a big load of Kielbasa over the weekend and I checked the price of Kielbasa in Costco and the 4 pound Hillshire Farms brand Kielbasa is selling for $9.96 which is $2.49 per pound.  With the price of Pork and the price of Ground Beef at $3.58 per pound it will cost me about $3.08 per pound to make and that is just for the meat not including casings, spices and cost of smoking plus the time to grind, mix and stuff.  I really enjoy making sausage and will continue to make sausage as my stuff is a heck of a lot better than Hillshires or other store bought stuff.  I guess my rant is how in the heck can a major producer make a product about $.50 cents cheaper than my raw cost on meat alone.

I feel better getting this off my chest.  Thanks for letting me vent.  Will post photos of my weekend projects later.

[Pappymn]

I looked at my Costco yesterday, I think it was $2.29. Which is still up. I need 60 pounds for a grad party....I better get on it.

[squirtthecat]

Wholesale price around here is $2/lb...    Ouch.

[BAM1]

Depending on when the Sausage was made is how it was priced.  two months ago pork butts at Sam's where $1.69 a pound.  I looked at a Sam's reciept from last April and the case price I paid was $1.07 a pound.

[Sailor1]

Wholesale price around here is $2/lb...    Ouch.

Yikes.  Got a buddy that runs a BBQ joint here and he was paying .99 per pound for bone in Butt a few months ago.  He said that was a case price that is around the time that I was paying $1.89 per pound at Costco.  I have not talked to him lately but I bet that price is well above the .99 per pound now.  He buys from SYSCO.  For those in retail BBQ business it is going to be very hard to eat a 30 to 40% price increase for food cost.  I may have to go see him and see if he will sell me a case of Butts 

[squirtthecat]

For those in retail BBQ business it is going to be very hard to eat a 30 to 40% price increase for food cost.

Tell me about it..         (that's what I do on the weekends)

We had to raise our prices as well, but people understand why.   They see what things cost at the store.   And we sell the daylights out of this stuff.

[TMB]

Price here is 1.69 lb on avg,  but you can find a sale once in awhile.   The warehouse where I get butts for church they run 1.39 to 1.49 for a case.   

[LostArrow]

It's a BAD time to be a carnivore 
Beef stocks @ very low level.
Pork virus
Seafood has gone up the wazoo!
The only good thing is pork stocks recover quickly , but beef takes years!
I'm not sure with all these yuppies seafood will ever be cheap again.
ThankGod Tofu is still cheap

[sliding_billy]

I know it doesn't help, but I was at WinCo tonight and they had 2-packs of butts for $0.99/lb.  I have 5 large butts in the chest freezer right now and no room for any more.

[Tenpoint5]

Because if you look at there product it is mostly fat! they are running about a 50/50 mix from what it looks like when Momma buys them.