Retail prices are collected for several purposes, one of which is to calculate price spreads.

ERS develops price spreads for beef, pork, broilers, turkey, and eggs as a measure that describes the allocation of the consumer dollar among the various stages of marketing in the livestock/meat industry. The measuring points are the farm, wholesale, and retail levels in the marketing chain. The farm and wholesale prices are from USDA's Market News, and retail prices are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Prices from these sources are standardized to reflect 1 pound of meat at the retail level. Price spreads are reported monthly for total (farm to retail), farm to wholesale, and wholesale to retail.

ERS is required by the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 to continue using BLS retail prices in calculating price spreads for 2 years after the first release of the retail scanner prices for meat.

For more information about prices spreads, see the topic page on food prices, spreads, and margins.

Specific information on meat is found on the meat price spreads page in the Food Marketing and Price Spreads briefing room.

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