991142 Pork bellies Up on Bacon DemandNovember 15, 1999Backed by an apparent boom in U.S. bacon demand, pork bellies futures climbed Friday to their highest price in more than two years on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Lean hog prices benefited as well, rising 4% to their highest level in 4 1/2 months. In other markets, coffee futures soared to a one-year high and crude oil rose to near the lofty $25-a-barrel mark. Some analysts are baffled by the sudden heavy demand for pork bellies -- which are processed into bacon -- at a time of year when there's usually a surplus to put away for next summer's big pork-eating season. Frozen pork bellies for February delivery rose 2.70 cents to 74.27 cents a pound; December lean hogs rose 2 cents to 50.32 cents a pound. Chuck Levitt of Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago said he's never seen anything like it in his 35 years in the business. “There is either a phenomenal demand for bacon in this country or bellies are being tucked away somewhere,” he said, noting that the record recent production isn't showing up in warehouses. Only 14 million pounds of pork bellies were in storage as of Nov. 1, he estimated, a relatively small number. Fast-food restaurants are one of the biggest new pork customers. Three chains -- Burger King, Wendy's and Jack in the Box -- all have introduced new sandwiches featuring bacon recently. The rise in pork bellies has almost single-handedly lifted lean hog prices, Levitt said. Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines, Iowa, said hog prices also reflect the continuing high demand that developed when prices were strikingly low a year ago.
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