A few of my butcher savvy clients were fans of Urner Barry. They would receive yellow sheets in the mail with market prices for many popular meat cuts. Urner Barry is now part of Expana Markets. I like the graphs on the new platform. Now subscribers can get their updates online.
I heard a Marketplace (American Public Media) episode on July 14 "Inflation Came Down in June. Will It Stay That Way?". The main focus was slowing inflation. There were specific segments I found interesting including an analysis of the drop in pork prices. There is a good supply of pork and lower demand. Also, a segment on egg price fixing was excellent. The DOJ found egg suppliers manipulated the egg clearing house to fix egg prices. The egg discussion mentioned Urner Barry-now Expana.
The egg fixing scheme was only a part of the egg price story. The Avian flu epidemic was definitely the major influence on higher prices.
I find myself avoiding eggs priced too low in the supermarket. I like the whole "buy local" movement in my community. Local farmers tend to use organic grains and let their birds run free at least part of the day. I pay from $4 to $5 a dozen. In contrast, I have seen eggs priced at 89 cents a dozen at a meat specialty shop I frequent. I passed for the nice brown eggs from a local farmer.
