Pork sales at retail approached $7.3 billion in August, with 298,761,191 pounds sold, according to IRI retail sales data.

Following a similar trend line to other products in the meat case, pork saw dollar sales rise as pounds sold contracted slightly.

On the sales side, pork saw increases of 5.2% vs. year-ago sales, 4.4% compared with two years ago, and 20.8% compared with sales of three years ago.

For pounds sold, volumes were off -4.1% from year-ago levels and -8.2% from two years ago. Pork’s pounds sold in August were up just a hair — 0.2% — compared with pounds sold three years ago.

Pork’s price per pound was $3.20 in August, up 9.7% from year-ago prices, up 13.7% from two years ago, and up 21% from years ago, according to IRI data.

U.S. pork exports reached 208,095 metric tons in July, down 6% from a year ago and valued at $625 million (down 5%)., according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Through July, exports were 17% below last year at just under 1.5 million metric tons and valued at $4.24 billion (down 15%).

Pork exports were below last year’s levels, according to USMEF, but posted strong performance in Colombia and the Caribbean while remaining above the prior year for Mexico, the leading export destination for U.S. pork products.