Since these price increases are cumulative, they seem to be especially noticeable on groceries. Gasoline goes up and down, some housing markets (Florida) might soften, but that bag of mini carrots that I bought for $0.99 for years is now $1.25 and it's in fact "sticky".
Feeder Cattle are currently 33.79% higher YoY, $366.53 vs $273.45 (contract close January 13, 2026). From a historical standpoint, it was $99.37 on March 9, 2020 (A oddly chosen date I use for Covid related pricing in my research.)
Beef is classic undersupply trying to meet increased consumer demand. You need to go back to 1950 to find herd sizes matching today. The US population is 343.6M today versus 151.3M.
We also import 3.8B lbs of beef annually (2024 data).
*I'm not a beef eater so I'm not affected by pricing until those times when I get the wife a Ribeye and cringe at the sticker shock of $20? (At home prcing...) My hpousehold can easily absorb the price but other might not easily without it costing them elsewhere in their budget.
NPR ran a section where they talked to pittmasters down in Texas. The chefs talked about how brisket originally seen as a poor man's meat is now nearly 10x more expensive costing nearly 135 dollars for the same amount that was cheap back in the early 2000's. They spoke about how cooking the right amount of food is almost impossible now a days. They cook too much and they lose out on product too little and they lose on foot traffic. It is a interesting look at how prices are affecting small business owners bottom line.
Sounds like folks should eat more beyond meat!
Since these price increases are cumulative, they seem to be especially noticeable on groceries. Gasoline goes up and down, some housing markets (Florida) might soften, but that bag of mini carrots that I bought for $0.99 for years is now $1.25 and it's in fact "sticky".
Looking at it from an aggregate growth over longer periods of time is eye opening.
Feeder Cattle are currently 33.79% higher YoY, $366.53 vs $273.45 (contract close January 13, 2026). From a historical standpoint, it was $99.37 on March 9, 2020 (A oddly chosen date I use for Covid related pricing in my research.)
Beef is classic undersupply trying to meet increased consumer demand. You need to go back to 1950 to find herd sizes matching today. The US population is 343.6M today versus 151.3M.
We also import 3.8B lbs of beef annually (2024 data).
*I'm not a beef eater so I'm not affected by pricing until those times when I get the wife a Ribeye and cringe at the sticker shock of $20? (At home prcing...) My hpousehold can easily absorb the price but other might not easily without it costing them elsewhere in their budget.
NPR ran a section where they talked to pittmasters down in Texas. The chefs talked about how brisket originally seen as a poor man's meat is now nearly 10x more expensive costing nearly 135 dollars for the same amount that was cheap back in the early 2000's. They spoke about how cooking the right amount of food is almost impossible now a days. They cook too much and they lose out on product too little and they lose on foot traffic. It is a interesting look at how prices are affecting small business owners bottom line.
https://www.marketplace.org/story/2026/01/06/how-barbecue-pitmasters-are-dealing-with-rising-beef-prices