Sort & Cull

Time was when outdoor grilling and Labor Day were locked together like Mom and apple pie, do-nothing and Congress, the Cubs and last place.

But as the strange summer of 2014 gathers itself for the home stretch, I'm worried that the traditional Labor Day feature is shaping up to be as meatless as Paul McCartney's ashram.

Typically, August represents a marketing period when retailers and food managers look past the dog days of summer and restock coolers for the season's grand finale of meat consumption. Stockpiling steaks and chops and hamburgers for the Labor Day extravaganza has always been a no-brainer, like filling a few canteens before stroll across Death Valley.

Apparently not this year.

Judging from the way beef and pork cut-outs have absolutely imploded over the last three weeks, meat buyers couldn't care less about what you throw own your Weber late next week. For example, since peaking on July 31, the choice beef box has retreated in value by more than $13. Over the same period, the pork carcass has depreciated by nearly $23.

While you can blame some of wholesale pork crash on increasing production, beef tonnage this month has remained essentially steady.

So why has pre-Labor Day meat buying been such a bust this year? Look no further than the most recent meat spread data released by the USDA on Monday.

In an inelegant but precise word, retail meat margins suck.

Although grocers have been pricing beef and pork cuts higher as fast as their magic markers can fly, they fell seriously behind the explosive wholesale pace through the first half of the summer. The retail share of the beef dollar paid by consumers last month totaled no more than 35.3%, 10 points below July 2013 and the smallest take since the first quarter of 1993.

Pork margins at Safeway et al are little better. The retail share of the pork dollar in July total just short of 46%, 7 points below midsummer last year and the thinnest slice of pie served to these guys since late 1996.

Next time you take the expensive promenade along the meat counter, note how many trays have been reduced and re-stickered "Manager's Special."

Consumer demand for beef and pork has turned as sticky as late summer humidity itself. Retailers are sick of the exorbitant cost of maintaining inventories, too much of which must be painfully discounted before it begins to smell.

The unacceptable cost of being stuck with leftovers.

In a nutshell, that's why more grills this Labor Day could stay lost in the end-of-summer shuffle.

(AG)

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