USDA Market News
Example: a distributor says romaine is up 30% “because of the market.” You open that day’s USDA terminal-market report for romaine across cities like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. If the reported wholesale prices actually rose, the market did move. If they held flat, the increase is your vendor’s — not the market’s — and you have a dated public report to point to.
USDA’s public market-price reports
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reporting service for wholesale food prices, run by its Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). USDA reporters collect and publish actual transaction prices from terminal and shipping-point markets — produce, poultry, eggs, dairy, grain, and livestock — free to anyone, on a fixed daily or weekly schedule. The Cost Index uses these reports as its primary wholesale level for produce and poultry.
Why it matters
It’s the closest thing to a public price check on the wholesale food market — built from real deals, not estimates, and not controlled by anyone selling to you. When a distributor says lettuce or chicken is up, the day’s terminal-market report shows what the actual market did. The Cost Index reads USDA Market News first for produce and poultry; BLS and FRED come in behind it to confirm the direction.
Frequently asked
What is USDA Market News?
It is a price-reporting service inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture, run by its Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). USDA reporters gather actual transaction prices from wholesale food markets — terminal markets in big cities and shipping points near the farm — and publish them for produce, poultry, eggs, dairy, grain, and livestock. The reports are public, free, and released on a fixed schedule, usually daily or weekly.
Are USDA Market News prices wholesale or retail?
Wholesale. The reports cover what changes hands between sellers and buyers in the supply chain — at terminal markets and shipping points — not the shelf price a shopper pays. That is exactly why they are useful for checking what a distributor charges a restaurant, which sits much closer to the wholesale level than to retail.
How does the Cost Index use USDA Market News?
It is the Cost Index's primary wholesale level for produce and poultry. For those ingredients the index reads the day's terminal-market reports first, then uses BLS and FRED behind them to confirm which way the price is moving. Every published reading traces back to a specific dated USDA report identifier.
- BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) — the U.S. price, wage & jobs statistics agency
- USDA Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) — mandatory packer price reporting to USDA
- USDA Dairy Product Sales Report (NDPSR) — the weekly U.S. dairy price benchmark
- FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) — the public front door to U.S. economic data
- EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) — the U.S. federal energy-statistics agency
- NOAA Fisheries — the U.S. ocean-fisheries & landings agency
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