Beef prices are soaring

Beef prices are up, soaring nearly 9% since January, according to the Department of Agriculture. June’s consumer price index showed ground beef prices were up 12.4% and steak prices were up 10.3%, compared to last year. 

Beef products are retailing for $9.26 a pound. The average price of ground beef was $6.34 per pound and the average price of raw steak was $11.49 per pound.

Experts say these record highs have been years in the making and it could be well over a year before consumers see any relief, CNN reported. Americans’ demand for beef products remains high. Meanwhile, factors like shrinking herds, droughts, and rising import costs show no signs of subsiding.  

“Beef is way more complicated than eggs,” Michael Swanson, chief agriculture economist at Wells Fargo $WFC told CNN. “The cattle industry is still the ‘Wild West’ of the protein market, whereas the egg market is more ‘Corporate America’ with its supply and demand management.”

Cattle herd sizes have been on a steady decline since 2019 and are currently at their lowest in 74 years, according to a May report by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). Meanwhile, margins for cattle farmers and ranchers are high as droughts have increased the cost of feed, economist Bernt Nelson wrote for the AFBF. 

In an earnings call last month, Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King told investors that “beef is experiencing the most challenging market conditions we’ve ever seen.”