Meat prices that spiked during the pandemic are coming back down, in a move that’s good news for consumers but bad for producers and processors.
Retail prices for ground beef, chicken and pork loins are all at pre-pandemic levels, and certain products are even cheaper. The USDA predicts that cash receipts for ranchers and other meat producers will drop by 8% this year.
The pandemic even lowered the price of premium beef by forcing feedlot owners to keep cattle back while processing plants suffered slowdowns and shutdowns related to COVID. As the cattle continued to feed, they packed on weight – up to 100 pounds in some cases – that translated into fattier, better-marbled beef. This has increased the supply of Prime beef, USDA’s highest classification.
There are still some pandemic-related concerns, industry players told the Wall Street Journal. Animals remain backed up in the supply chain; meat exports, especially to China, are way down; and a second wave of the pandemic could cripple the industry as badly or worse than the first.
