Pork trim is priced by lean percentage, and two grades carry the market: the 42s and the 72s. 42 percent trim is 42 percent lean, so mostly fat. 72 percent trim is 72 percent lean. USDA prints both every day on its afternoon pork report, LM_PK602, in combos (bulk totes of about 2,000 pounds) and in boxes. USDA's pork purchase specs (IMPS item 418) define trimmings as boneless meat from any part of the carcass, free of bone, cartilage, skin and glands, with the fat level set as a fat percentage. How sausage makers blend the two is covered in the grind formulas article. This one is about what each grade is and how they trade.
The lines USDA prints
| Line | Lean | Median price, last 12 months | Pounds, last 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 72% trim, combo | 72% | $1.01/lb | 77 million |
| 42% trim, combo | 42% | 72¢/lb | 45 million |
| Trim w/trace, combo | Fat with a trace of lean | 69¢/lb | 30 million |
| 72% ham trim, combo | 72% | $1.08/lb | 3 million |
| 90% ham trim, combo | 90% | $1.34/lb | 3 million |
The 72s in combo are the biggest pork trim line by pounds. Boxed trim prints on fewer days than combo and trades about 30 cents a pound over it, for both the 42s and the 72s. The ham trim lines are thin: the 72 percent ham trim printed on about one day in five over the last year.
"Trim w/trace" is the one line USDA does not define. In the trade it means fat trim with only a trace of lean, and its prices fit that. Since 2013 it traded under the 42s on about two days in three, by a median of 4 cents a pound.
The 72/42 spread
The 72s cost more than the 42s almost every day: on 96 percent of days over the last year, and 98 percent since 2013. The median gap over the last year was about 28 cents a pound, and four days in five it sat between about 5 and 49 cents. The widest weekly gap since 2013 was about 82 cents, in late May 2020.
The order does flip. Since 2013 the 42s averaged at or above the 72s for nine weeks, and all nine fell between late June and early September, in 2021, 2025 and 2026. That is a pattern in the prints, not a rule, and nothing here says why it happens.
What the trim moves with
Over four-week stretches both grades moved with the pork cutout and the loin about as much as they moved with each other. They moved a little less with the belly, loosely with the ham and the picnic, and not at all with the butt.
The 42s are the jumpier grade. Over the last year they moved more than 5 percent in a day on 29 percent of days, against 14 percent for the 72s.
For a sausage or grind program the two grades are one decision. The grind formulas article shows how the blend turns the spread into a cost.