Spam sales spike in cash-poor economy

AUSTIN, Minn. Hormel Foods Corp., maker of Spam, last week reported that sales of the canned meat product have risen in the second quarter, bringing a 14-percent profit increase.

The Nielsen Co. released sales information for Hormel reporting that Spam sales were up 10.6 percent from last year in the quarter ended May 3. In the last 6 months, sales were up nearly 9 percent.

“We have significantly increased our household penetration,” Hormel’s group product manager, Swen Neufeldt, said. “I think it’s a lot of folks that are coming into the brand perhaps for the first time and coming back to the brand.”

The Agriculture Department has reported that food prices, in general, are soaring faster than at any other time in the last 18 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has said that inflation is rising by 6.1 percent per year and there is no sign of a slowdown.

The price of Spam is currently at $2.62, up 17 cents, or about 7 percent, from last year.