Remember the egg price thing from a few months ago…..well that is starting to right itself (that is what we are told)….but as egg prices start a downward trend beef prices are headed in the opposite direction…..higher and higher.
Why are we subjected to yet another price increase?
Anyone firing up the grill this summer already knows hamburger patties and steaks are expensive, but the latest numbers show prices have climbed to record highs.
And experts say consumers shouldn’t expect much relief soon either.
The average price of a pound of ground beef rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound.
But this is not a recent phenomenon. Beef prices have been steadily rising over the past 20 years because the supply of cattle remains tight while beef remains popular.
In fact, the U.S. cattle herd has been steadily shrinking for decades. As of Jan. 1, the U.S. had 86.7 million cattle and calves, down 8% from the most recent peak in 2019. That is the lowest number of cattle since 1951, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Many factors including drought and cattle prices have contributed to that decline. And now the emergence of a pesky parasite in Mexico and the prospect of widespread tariffs may further reduce supply and raise prices.
Here’s a look at what’s causing the price of beef to rise.
Smaller herd
The American beef industry has gotten better at breeding larger animals, so ranchers can provide the same amount of beef with fewer cattle, said David Anderson, a livestock economist at Texas A&M.
Then in 2020, a three-year drought began that dried out pastures and raised the cost of feed for cattle, according to the American Farm Bureau. Drought has continued to be a problem across the West since then, and the price of feed has put more pressure on ranchers who already operate on slim profit margins.
In response, many farmers slaughtered more female cattle than usual, which helped beef supplies in the short term but lowered the size of future herds. Lower cattle supplies has raised prices.
In recent years cattle prices have soared, so that now animals are selling for thousands of dollars apiece. Recent prices show cattle selling for more than $230 per hundredweight, or hundred pounds.
Those higher prices give ranchers more incentive to sell cows now to capture profits instead of hanging onto them for breeding given that prices in the years ahead may decrease, Anderson said.
“For them, the balance is, ‘Do I sell that animal now and take this record high check?’ Or ‘do I keep her to realize her returns over her productive life when she’s having calves?’” Anderson said. “And so it’s this balancing act and so far the side that’s been winning is to sell her and get the check.”
https://www.wctv.tv/2025/07/22/beef-prices-have-soared-us-heres-why/
Since I am not a rancher or in the beef industry I am relying of reports for my info but if any reader has first hand knowledge of this situation please let my readers know…..
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
I know very little about US beef prices, but it you factor in transportation, cattle feed, increased labour costs, and a reducing herd size, then prices are bound to be increasing. The Tariffs will affect every aspect of meat production in some way, no matter how indirectly. Plus the ‘cheap labour’ immigrants are no longer there to do the menial jobs for low pay.
Best wishes, Pete.
Just something else we consumers must try and handle…..I mean food is not a luxury but we are being treated like it is….how disgusting. chuq
That price is pretty close. As of 10 AM today it was floating around $225.87. Not only are there fewer cattle out on the feed lots, the costs to ranchers of everything has skyrocketed. Feed, fuel, machinery, labor, shipping… Everything has gone up, in a lot of cases far more than the cost of inflation.
Another issue is that the entire meat processing industry in the US is controlled literally by a monopoly, three or four massive. international companies. There may be three or four different companies, but they act effectively as a single monopoly with a long history off illegal price fixing and market manipulation that has resulted in nothing but a slap on the wrist by the government. In the case of one company, JBS, it is as corrupt as it can get. It was involved in a corruption scheme in Brazil worth hundreds of millions of dollars, involved hundreds of politicians and bureaucrats, and pretty much brought down the Brazilian government at the time. And when the company decided to come into the US our government blithely ignored all of that and said sure, come on in.
Thanx for the heads up….this scenario is pretty much how our system works these days….chuq