Agriculture • USA – Beef prices rise 10%

USA – Beef prices rise 10% 13 Jun 2012
Beef and veal has experienced the greatest price rise of all foods in the US between 2010-2011, according to the latest figures from the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS).

The 2012 Food Price Index and Forecast reported that American beef and veal prices increased by 10.2%, pork prices by 8.5% and poultry by 2.9%.

Overall, meat prices experienced the second-largest increase of all food-at-home categories (8.8%) behind fats and oils, which rose by 9.3% between 2010 and 2011.

“Beef and pork price increases in 2011 were driven largely by record-low inventories for cattle and hogs, combined with strong international demand for beef and pork products,” said Richard Volpe, economist with the Economic Research Service.

“This environment persists in 2012 and meat prices are expected to remain high, particularly for beef and less so for pork. Poultry prices are rising now, as consumers shift towards chicken products as a means to avoid sustained high prices for other meat products.

“The volatility of grain prices is certainly a factor, but right now we are dealing with structural, long-term inflation for meat.”

ERS forecasts that meat prices in general will increase by 3.5-4.5% in 2012, with beef and veal prices rising by 4-5%, pork by 3-4% and poultry by 3-4%…

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Statistics: Posted by yoda — Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:56 pm