Happiness is a plate of bacon for David Cunningham, but the Gippsland resident says supermarket shoppers are being asked to fork out more for rashers than a roast.
“Recently they had pork roasts, boneless, for $8 a kilo for the whole pork roast,” he said.
The Lake Tyers resident said he had seen middle bacon rashers selling for $19 a kilo at the Woolworths deli in the past two weeks.
“Over previous weeks I’ve noticed them dropping it to as low as $13 and saying it was on special,” Mr Cunningham said.
“Now, I can go to Aldi and I can get pre-packed bacon for $12.50.
“I can’t see why bacon rashers are $19. It’s absolutely outrageous.”
David Cunningham says happiness is a plate of bacon. (Supplied)
Australian Pork Limited chief executive Margo Andrae confirmed bacon was sitting around $19 to $21 per kilogram.
“But what you’re actually seeing here is the imported bacon [price] is what’s increasing,” she said.
Imports dominate bacon buys
She said nearly 70 per cent of ham and bacon on Australian supermarket shelves is made from imported ingredients.
Australia does not produce enough to sate the country’s appetite for ham and bacon, importing 164,652 tonnes of pork in the past financial year.
About half of the pork Australia imports is from the US, with the Netherlands, Denmark, and Canada among the other top sources.
Biosecurity regulations mean all fresh pork in Australia is Australian.
Producer and president of the Victorian Farmers Federation’s pig group David Wright said most homegrown pork goes into the fresh market, like chops and roasts.
“Any product you buy with a bone, so ham on the bone, is Aussie grown,” he said.
Mexican market driving up dollars
Simon Quilty from Global AgriTrends told the Victorian Country Hour that Mexico was part of the reason bacon was costing Australian supermarket shoppers more.
“Right now America is driving the bus when it comes to pork pricing around the world,” he said.
He said America is currently producing the cheapest pork in the world and Mexico is one of its biggest buyers.
Australia has a huge appetite for bacon. (ABC Ballarat: Rochelle Kirkham)
But Mr Quilty said pork production had not gone up by as much as expected this year.
“There’s been a jump in prices of about 13 per cent in the last six weeks, driven by Mexico,” Mr Quilty said.
Price could benefit producers
Margo Andrae said there had been a rise in demand for Australian pork and bacon, as well as an increase in price.
“That really does relate to the cost of doing business — labour, biosecurity, and animal care,” she said.
“People can buy homegrown bacon for as little as $24 to $26 a kilo.”
Australian Pork Limited’s Margo Andrae says prices are narrowing between local and imported. (Supplied: Australian Pork Limited)
She said the narrowing difference between the price of local and imported bacon could benefit Australian growers.
“Traditionally the gap between buying Australian homegrown bacon versus imported bacon has been a lot bigger,” Ms Andrae said.
“People probably have a better choice, or an easier choice to make, on whether they support the Australian versus the imported.”
Ongoing battle for producers
David Wright, the president of the VFF’s pig group, said Australian-made bacon was not always easy for supermarket shoppers to find.
“It’s really hard for our Aussie products to get visibility at the shelf and get into Aussie households,” he said.
Country of origin labelling in Australia includes a bar chart showing the percentage of local ingredients. (Supplied: Australian Pork Limited)
He said the industry was lobbying to improve marketplace share and placement for Australian-made bacon, as well as working with the government to make labelling clearer.
Ms Andrae said shoppers should look out for a bar chart when they are looking to buy local.
“We often used to believe that the triangle with the kangaroo in it meant we were buying Australian product,” she said.
“What we actually need to be doing is looking at the small bar chart underneath and anything above about 60-70 per cent you can be guaranteed you’re buying an Australian product.”
Bringing home the bacon
But spending a little more to support Australian producers might be a hard sell for some shoppers as they look to save at the supermarket.
“I tend to go the price,” Mr Cunningham said.
He said he was still buying bacon but is shopping smarter.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Woolworths said it offered a range of options to cater for different preferences and budgets.
