Pass-through is the economic term for how higher (or lower) prices in a chain wind up effecting prices up-chain, say at retail. All outcomes are possible for a price rise such as we have experienced in the corn market due to the government transfer payments for corn producers. Input price increases can lead to complete pass through up chain, more than complete pass through or something less than complete pass through.
Part of the problem in the meat case at retail is there is so much special pricing, loss leader pricing and the like that it is hard to tell exactly what happens for every input price change down the chain. In addition, price changes at retail for products made from agricultural products tend to be very small compared to the change at the production level. This is due in part to all of the value added as the chain progresses (i.e., a few cents worth of wheat in a $4.00 box of wheat breakfast cereal.) Small changes are sometimes unnoticed by consumers as they are lost in the noise of other price changes, the hassles of shopping and plain inattention.
