meat prices
White House points inflation finger at meatpackers
Grocery prices are climbing at their fastest pace since 2008, with beef, pork and poultry leading the way — up nearly 13 percent since last November, said the government's new inflation report. The White House pinned the blame for surging meat prices on meatpackers "taking advantage of their market power to raise prices while increasing their own profit margins."
Meat prices climb on high demand and supply constraints
Strong consumer demand for meat and labor shortages at packing plants were factors in persistently high meat prices this year, said the USDA on Tuesday in a monthly report on food inflation. Meat prices were forecast to climb by 6.5 percent this year, double its long-term average of 3.2 percent annually.
Food a factor in highest inflation rate in three decades
With the U.S. inflation rate at 6.2 percent — the highest it's been since 1990 — President Biden said the government was on the alert for price gouging as it worked to remove bottlenecks in the supply chain. Inflation has been on the rise since February, and soaring food prices, often led by meat, are an important factor.
Food prices rise as U.S. inflation moderates
Beef prices were 12 percent higher than a year ago, helping to drive overall food prices upward, said the Labor Department on Tuesday. The monthly Consumer Price Index report said food prices were 3.7 percent higher but the U.S. inflation rate slowed slightly in August.
Meat and seafood pull food prices higher
Americans will see the second year in a row of larger-than-usual food price increases, with food inflation now forecast at 3.5 percent this year, following the pandemic-driven 3.4 percent increase of 2020, said USDA economists on Thursday.
Food prices rise faster than overall U.S. inflation rate
The increases are seemingly small – an additional 27 cents for a pound of ground chuck at the grocery store, for example – but they are part of a brisk 3.5 percent increase in food prices since the pandemic hit the United States last March. The increase in food prices outpaced the overall U.S. inflation rate of 2.6 percent, the government said on Tuesday.
Consumers will pay higher meat prices through 2020
Grocery store prices for meat are declining after their springtime coronavirus surge, but more slowly than expected, meaning that shoppers will pay noticeably more at the meat counter this year than in 2019, said USDA economists. In the monthly Food Price Outlook, the USDA forecast meat prices will rise 6.5 percent this year, more than double their usual rate.
Grocery prices fall for second month in a row
Lower prices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs were the driving factor for a slight decline in grocery prices during August, the second month in a row that supermarket prices were down, said the monthly Consumer Price Index. Despite the decreases, food inflation ran at 4.6 percent in the past 12 months, rising far more rapidly than the overall U.S. rate of 1.3 percent.
Meat prices fall for first time this year
After soaring because of coronavirus outbreaks among packing plant employees, meat prices are on the decline for the first time this year and are headed lower, said the USDA on Tuesday.
Grocery prices surge for fourth straight month, pushed by meat
Beef prices in the grocery store are 14.2 percent higher than a year ago, part of a broad rise in prices for "food at home," said the Labor Department on Wednesday. While it was the fourth month in a row of surging grocery prices, there were signs that food inflation is easing.
Meatpackers skeptical of broader disclosure of cattle prices and purchases
Noting complaints about dwindling competition, the USDA listed several ways to improve price transparency in the cattle market on Wednesday and offered to assist stakeholders and policymakers in exploring options to assure fair prices and level the playing field between producers and processors.
Beef prices soar, food inflation is highest in more than eight years
Food prices rose sharply for the second month in a row, with beef recording its largest one-month increase ever, as the U.S. food inflation rate hit 4 percent in May, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday. It is the highest rate since January 2012. While food prices surged, the overall U.S. inflation rate for the past 12 months was a tiny 0.1 percent. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Meat prices spike, cattle prices fall, and ranchers and lawmakers see market manipulation
Wholesale beef prices have jumped to record levels, as shoppers stockpile meat in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. But this run on beef isn’t helping cattle ranchers. On the contrary, cattle prices have plummeted since January, putting many ranchers on the brink of collapse. “It’s never been worse. The futures market is crashing … and box beef prices are skyrocketing. It’s nuts,” says rancher Mike Callicrate of St. Francis, Kansas. <strong>(No Paywall)</strong>
Ranchers suit claims packers conspired to deflate beef prices
Last week, several Midwestern feedlot owners along with the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF) filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that dominant meatpackers conspired to depress cattle prices starting in 2015. The case argues that JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef strategically cut back on open market cattle bids, closed plants, and imported costly foreign cattle in order to force farmers to accept lower prices and manipulate spot market cattle values.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>
More hogs on U.S. farms, and even more to come
The U.S. hog inventory is up 3 percent from a year ago, according to a quarterly report by USDA. Beef and poultry production are also expanding, leading USDA to forecast a nearly 4-percent increase in the meat supply this year. The increase is so large that per capita meat consumption is expected to increase by 5.6 pounds, to 222.4 pounds per person.
More pork is headed for U.S. stores and Americans have the money to buy it
The U.S. hog inventory is 2 percent larger than a year ago, an indicator that pork supplies will expand in the year ahead, according to USDA's quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. "Consumers want pork. America's pig farmers are delivering with excellent production performance," says National Hog Farmer, a trade publication, which cites an analysis that the low unemployment rate will mean higher earnings for American in 2018 and drive up meat prices.
Low meat prices to hold down grocery costs in 2017
Grocery prices will virtually stand still in 2017, the second year in a row of unusually low food-price inflation with lower beef and pork prices a factor, says the government. Retail food prices are estimated to rise 1 percent in the new year after falling 0.75 percent this year; typically grocery prices rise 2.5 percent a year.
A rare year for food prices — up only 1 percent
U.S. food prices will rise by a marginal 1 percent this year, the second-smallest increase since 1974, and it's all due to lower grocery prices, said a government forecast. Groceries, which are the bulk of food spending, would cost less this year than they did in 2015 — the first taste of price deflation at the supermarket since 1967.
After relentless increases, food inflation rate stands still
Higher consumer demand and lower supplies are driving up pork and egg prices, but after increasing for six months in a row, the U.S. food inflation rate for 2022 is unchanged this month, said the USDA on Thursday.