Beef Prices Higher Than Ever
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The recent bird flu outbreak has caused the price of eggs to shoot up but what about beef?
Beef prices have also noticeably increased over the past couple of years.
At Meats by John & Wayne, two years ago a pound of top sirloin cost $6.99 a pound. Now, it’s two dollars more.
“I mean overall the cost has gotten significantly higher,” says Brad Simek of South Fargo.
“Definitely it seems like beef prices are up,” says Deanna Stattelman of Clinton, Minn.
Many attribute the rise in beef costs to severe weather across the country including the drought on the west coast. But one butcher thinks otherwise.
“I think it’s just like everything else you know you pick that point and this time of year it’s coming into summer so everything’s going to slow down a little bit so can rise the market. The cattle being processed aren’t going to be going in as fast so the market’s going to be a little higher. There’s not going to be as much steak out there to buy so you’re going to have to pay a higher price for it,” says Jason Aamodt, a butcher at Meats by John & Wayne.
And although Jason doesn’t expect prices to continue to go up, many consumers have adjusted their grocery lists because beef is just too expensive.
“You still notice the same amount of people coming in but you hear a lot more comments about it and maybe instead of steaks they’re buying chicken,” says Aamodt.
“We eat a lot of chicken anyways but it will be interesting now with the poultry issue,” Simek says.
Despite the increase, business for Meats by John & Wayne is still booming and they don’t expect meat lovers to stop buying anytime soon.
“I think prices will affect people, how much they buy, it doesn’t for me,” says Stattelman.
“Whether the prices go up a little bit more, I don’t think that’s going to stop anybody from wanting to eat it,” Aamodt says.
Meats by John & Wayne started operating about 11 years ago in south Fargo. The men have decades of experience in the butcher business.
