I've Got a Beef

[billroper]

Something odd is going on with the beef prices at Sam's Club.

In December, I could buy chuck roast for something like $3.50 / pound. That was up a little bit over the last few years, but nothing awful.

Around the end of December, the price of chuck roast went up to around $4.50 / pound.

When I went there last week, the price of chuck roast was $5.50 / pound.

Interestingly, the price of sirloin steak remains stable at just under $5.00 / pound; the price of beef brisket is hanging in at around $4.30 / pound.

I understand that the implied answer to this question about prices is "So, you'll be eating more sirloin and brisket than chuck roast now."

But still -- what the heck is going on?

Comments

[spiritdancer]

Supply & demand at work?

With the way retail prices on meat (beef in particular) have gone the last year or two, I'm finding pricing thru our coop for pasture-raised or grass-fed beef has gotten remarkably competitive with retail stores for generic meat. And I've gotten to meet many of our producers, which has been a nice thing, too :-)

[sraun]

I remember seeing somewhere a couple of months ago that the weather was causing smaller cattle herds, which was leading to a rise in the price of beef.

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

I'd expect the price to be going down short term. A lot of California, and I think other west coast and western areas, cattle herds are getting culled before the drought gets any deeper. Once the herds have been culled, I'd expect prices to go up.

Since my body doesn't handle beef (and lamb, venison, buffalo, etc.) properly, we don't buy much beef so the beef situation doesn't impact us directly. The related dairy issues, and the potential of similar things impacting pork, chicken, and turkey production will hit us, alas.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

NPR reported last week that droughts have led to higher-priced cattle feed, therefore fewer beef cattle, thus rising prices. They said that even if feed prices drop soon, expect it to take several years (since gestation takes 9 months & cattle are usually not slaughtered before age 2) for herds to increase enough to bring prices back down.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I know far more than I want to about the price of beef, because WILL (my local NPR station) devotes way too much air time to commodity markets. The general upward trend in the price of beef is, as others mentioned, expected -- droughts in the west in the last couple of years have reduced the cattle herd a lot, and feed prices have been high for a while. I'm actually surprised that the retail price of beef has increased as little as we've seen compared to the commodity price.

As for chuck roast being more expensive than sirloin, I have no clue, but what the heck, enjoy the sirloin while it lasts.