Christmas hams are proving popular this year as pork prices remain steady while the cost of beef and lamb skyrockets.
December has always been a busy time of year for Rockhampton-based butcher Gregg Wehlow.
His shop smokes its own Christmas hams and while they are normally a customer favourite, this year demand is even higher.
"It's actually gone up in interest this year," he said.
"We seem to have a lot more people coming through the door."
Some prices double
Over the past three years, beef and lamb prices have risen dramatically.
Destocking during the drought has meant there are fewer cattle and sheep in Australia.
Mr Wehlow said the price differences had been evident in his shop.
"A lot of things have actually doubled in price," he said.
"It's just completely gone mental."
Mr Wehlow said some people had chosen to buy cheaper products, like pork, while others had not made the switch.
"Your diehard fans of certain cuts will just keep getting it and just fork out the extra money," he said.
"Our profit margins have had to halve in a lot of places.
"We can't see the sense in handing all that expense on to the customers because it's just unaffordable to have that meat then."
More consistent supply
Rabobank Senior Animal Proteins Analyst Angus Gidley-Baird said pork prices were not always as volatile as beef or lamb.
"It's not exposed to the same seasonal movement from a rainfall and pasture availability point of view," he said.
"We've seen a little bit more consistent supply [of pork].
"Volumes in the pork industry are not too bad at the moment."
Mr Gidley-Baird said the average price for a baconer, a pig to be made into ham or bacon, had remained steady.
The price paid to the pork producer is currently $3.82 per kilogram, up slightly from the June figure of $3.65 per kilogram.
Central Queensland pork producer Laurie Brosnan said pork was becoming much more popular.
"All the data out there shows that pork is very much the flavour of the year or flavour of the past two or three years," he said.
"Consumption of pork is way up compared to pre-COVID."
Mr Brosnan said while their production had remained steady, the cost of production had risen.
"[With] diesel and stuff like that being at nearly record highs and holding all our commodities that come in, that we feed the pigs [are] at record highs," he said.
"Wages have obviously gone up as well."
