As I welcome the fall season and try to leave the hot summer days behind me, I realize the days of grilling meat is coming to a close. I enjoy grilling and would grill all year round if possible.
I’ve noticed people don’t pay much attention to the price of meat when they are grilling. Now, we’re slowly entering the holiday season, and people are more conscious of meat prices.
Beef prices are trending strong through the holiday season. Beef is still in high demand, and low cattle numbers are keeping beef prices steady where they are at.
Still, for the most part, shoppers continue choosing beef.
With high inflation and tighter budgets, shoppers are looking for cheaper cuts to try as they search for a change from ground beef, but still, ground beef accounts for around 50 percent of beef sales. It is almost its own industry.
The latest CattleFax UPDATE says, “Retail ground beef prices have risen 44 percent from January 2020 to $5.58 per pound in August – a substantial increase – but remains one of the cheapest beef options and a highly versatile product for consumers. By comparison, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s all beef price has increased 37 percent to $8.16 and the Choice beef composite is up 41 percent to $8.51.”
“Higher-valued beef items such as steaks and the Choice composite have seen periods of pushback and price sensitivity from the consumers. Those months often coincided with stronger year-over-year gains for ground beef,” the report continues. “However, recent months have indicated less trade-down with more even price patterns across items”
It looks like ground beef has and will keep its high demand with consumers. This is evident through fast food restaurants raising the price of hamburgers, and the lines are still long at the drive-ins.
Restaurants are really struggling with higher food and labor costs, but the demand for beef dishes is still high. The Restaurant Performance Index continued lower to levels which have previously only been seen in times of recession in the past 20 years, indicating consumers are looking for ways to cut back on spending.
All of those who are involved in the production of beef – and other meats for that matter – are closely watching the potential labor strikes along the East and Gulf Coast ports. Closing supply lines always raises costs.
It is important to know the price of food over the past three years, as it has been in the news almost nightly. I think what consumers don’t realize, and what one doesn’t hear on the nightly news, is the cost to produce food.
These costs have really impacted America’s farmers and ranchers.
In the last four years, the input costs to raise crops and livestock have risen dramatically, and when we throw in new costly regulations, up go the costs again. Then, if one has to borrow operating capital with higher interest rates, the cost goes up even higher.
Farming and ranching are like any other business, except they sell their products wholesale. We’re proud of the farmers and ranchers who produce our high-quality food, which is the safest in the world.
We’ve all been concerned about food inflation the last four years, but we also need to appreciate what it costs to produce our food.
Dennis Sun is the publisher of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup, a weekly agriculture newspaper available online and in print.
