Price of beef increasing in time for spring weather
Posted April 8, 2015 7:21 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If you’ve been taking advantage of our warmer, spring weather by firing up your barbecue, you may have noticed the price tag on that prime cut or box of burgers is a little higher than it was a couple of months ago.
The cost of beef has gone up, and there are a few factors at play.
The price of grain has gone up, partly due to the lower dollar, according to Kevin Boon with the BC Cattlemen’s Association.
“It is much more advantageous for our biggest trading partner, the US, to come in and buy our cattle, so that is pushing those prices up.”
He adds labour shortages in processing plants are another key factor.
“Our prices at the producer level have definitely increased over the last two years. We’re at about double where we were at the initial grassroots production level. The price had been spared at the supermarket counter a little bit previous to this in the fact that our grain prices for feeding them had dropped somewhat. Those are levelling out again, so we are now catching up at the supermarket to this cost increase.”
Boon thinks if prices haven’t reached their peak, they’re getting very close and he doesn’t see them going much higher.
“The economic situation with our dollar and everything else, it could be very fluctuant over the next couple years, but we think we’ve reached kind of that new plateau and this would be probably about the new norm.”
He explains it will depend on factors like whether there are droughts in other countries around the world.
“Because we are such a global market that our prices depend on what happens in Australia or in New Zealand, South America. If they have a drought in some big area where they’re forced to liquidate parts of their herd and our supply doesn’t grow, those prices will remain high or go higher because it is all about supply.”
He’s hoping for growth that will keep fluctuation from happening.