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The database of meat scanner prices contains monthly average retail
price data for selected cuts of red meat and poultry and is 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. The variables reported are weighted-average
price, an index of volume sold, and the percent of volume sold under
feature (discounts offered to consumers through retailers' weekly
feature advertisements) for selected cuts and aggregate categories
of beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and veal. Data are posted at Colorado
State University's Livestock
Marketing Information Center in two ways: summary
tables and a searchable
database from which custom tables can be developed.
The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 mandates collection
of these data, 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 (BLS) collects retail prices on some of
the same cuts of meat, the ERS scanner data set is unique
in that it includes price data on more cuts, information on
volume sold, and the discount effects of featuring. ERS presently
uses BLS prices to calculate 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.
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