Beef demand is holding steady despite the currently high prices.
Economists with the Livestock Marketing Center say that retail beef prices were up about 20 cents from last year to $7.66 per pound in June, but that did not keep consumers from holding back. Beef exports in the first five months of this year totaled nearly 1.5 billion pounds, which is roughly 10 percent of all U.S. beef production.
According to Dr. Tyler Cozzens, “This inflationary environment that we’re living in, coupled with a slowing in current rebuilding efforts, keep the prices elevated, but domestic demand is still holding strong in the face of those challenges. It’s just, what’s the tipping point here? I think we would have expected that to occur a little bit sooner, but consumers still seem to be buying their beef, I think they liked consuming that at home and they learned how to cook it.”
He says the fact that beef is available shows demand is holding strong and should be a positive sign for the industry.
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