Retail Scanner Data Resumes

January 4, 2007 - The national retail meat and poultry scanner data is coming back. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) will resume the collection and reporting of retail scanner prices for cuts of lamb, both domestic and imported.

The American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) expressed its appreciation to ERS for making national retail prices a priority and for updating the series with the back data that has not been collected since the summer of 2005. The absence of this data is due to the lapse in Mandatory Price Reporting (MPR).

"Retail data on lamb, both imported and domestic, is severely lacking," stated Burdell Johnson, ASI president, in his letter to ERS. "The retail data your agency makes available has enormous wealth to us and other affiliated organizations, both as tools to help measure the comparative performance of our product and for researching and benchmarking the value of the lamb industry."

The database contains monthly average retail price data for selected cuts of red meat and poultry, based on electronic supermarket scanner data. 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 congressional re-authorization of MPR for livestock, as approved more than a year ago, directed the agency to resume retail price reporting. This is the first piece to be implemented as the USDA has yet to resume full wholesale price reporting of domestic and imported lamb.

According to Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMCI) updates are planned for the 20th of each month and have a two-month reporting lag. ASI appreciates the ongoing work of LMIC to help make livestock prices and marketing information available to the industry.
Staff contact: Paul Rodgers, 303-771-3500

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