A publication of the USDA AMS Livestock and Poultry Program, Agricultural Analytics Division

April 30, 2019

Holiday Ham Marketing 

Consumers can find ham in their local retail meat case throughout the year in a variety of forms including bone-in or 

boneless; whole, half, or quartered; spiral-cut or uncut; or as ham steaks. However, marketing of 

ham is concentrated each year around the three big holiday seasons (Easter, Thanksgiving, and 

Christmas; (Big 3)). In 2018, most ham marketing occurred during the Christmas season with

Thanksgiving and Easter following in that order. Spiral-cut ham, whole and half, is the most popular 

form, commanding 32% of ham marketings in 2018. Spiral-cut bone-in hams are most associated 

with the holiday seasons with 85% of annual marketings in 2018 occurring during the Big 3 with a 

third of the remaining 15% marketed in January-February, likely stocks unsold during the prior 

Christmas season. Spiral-cut hams are most marketed during the Christmas season with 30% of 

their 2018 marketings occurring at that time. 

Portion hams, whole hams from which a center slice has been removed leaving the butt and the shank portions, normally 

spiral-cut, was the second most commonly marketed ham form in 2018 with 25% of ham marketings. This form also relies 

heavily on holiday sales with 75% of 2018 marketings occurring during the Big 3. The remaining 25% are marketed fairly 

regularly through the rest of the year. Shank portions were marketed more commonly than butt portions by a 70-30% rate 

in 2018 and are usually priced slightly less than butts. The center slices that are removed when ham portions are created 

are marketed as “ham steaks”, most often in bone-in form. This is a popular item, particularly at Easter when smaller meals 

are often preferred. In 2018, ham steaks accounted for 18% of ham marketings. Unlike other forms that depend heavily on 

holiday demand, ham steaks are more of an everyday item with business during the Big 3 only accounting for 18% of annual 

marketings of this form. 

Non-sliced bone-in hams (known as traditional hams), whole and half, accounting for only 8% of annual ham marketings, 

are heavily dependent on holiday business with 75% of 2018 marketing occurring during the Big 3. In 2018, these hams 

enjoyed spot marketing at various times during the non-holiday calendar including in January and May (likely to move 

supplies unsold from the prior Christmas and Easter) and in September and October as cooler weather arrives and retailers

squeeze in a couple of promotions ahead of Thanksgiving. Boneless hams accounted for 18% of ham marketings in 2018 

with 64% occurring during the Big 3. Boneless hams are marketed in whole, half, or quarter ham forms and may be spiralcut but are most often not. This is a popular form of ham and actually outpaces ham portions at Easter. 

During the recent Easter 2019 season, bone-in spiral-cut hams led all 

marketings, with whole hams having the largest share of the category. The 

share of bone-in spiral-cut hams, at 71% of all ham marketings, was a 9% 

increase over 2018. The average advertised price for spiral-cut bone-in 

hams was 4-5% lower than in 2018. Offerings of butt portion hams 

contributed most to the increase with 5% more being marketed in 2019 

over 2018. Average ad prices were higher in 2019 for portion hams, up 9% 

for butts and 7% for shanks. The increased share of bone-in, spiral-cut 

hams resulted from a decline in the share of boneless ham marketings, 

down nearly 7% in share from 2018 with all sizes seeing reduced activity. 

Ad pricing for boneless hams in 2019 were down for all 

forms – ranging from 1% lower for halves to 10% lower for 

quarters with the whole boneless ham average ad 

price down 4%. Traditional hams also saw a decline in 

marketing share, particularly in half form which 

contributed most of the 2.5% overall decline. 

Data Sources: USDA AMS Agricultural Analytics

M arket Insights

spiral cut 32.0%

portions 24.6%

steak 17.8%

boneless 17.6%

whole bn-in 8.0%

2018 Ham Marketing 

Share by Form

2019 2018

bone-in spiral cut............................ 71.2% 62.0%

whole 23.0% 23.3%

half 16.1% 15.7%

shank portion 18.6% 14.6%

butt portion 13.4% 8.4%

bone-in/semi-bnls; non-spiral cut.... 7.5% 10.0%

whole 4.4% 4.5%

half 3.0% 5.5%

boneless......................................... 17.5% 24.6%

whole 7.1% 9.7%

half 5.8% 7.8%

quarter 4.7% 7.1%

other.............................................. 3.8% 3.5%

ham steak, bone-in 3.4% 3.1%

country ham 0.2% 0.1%

picnic 0.3% 0.2%

Easter Ham Marketing - 2019 v. 2018