High Beef Price Factors ‘Anything But One-Dimensional’

Consumer demand for beef is a stronger driver of high beef prices at the grocery store than expected, Kansas State University agricultural economists suggest.

Brian Coffey and Glynn Tonsor analyzed retail beef price and consumption data from recent years to clarify supply-and-demand dynamics amidst the current cattle industry contraction that began in 2019. They found there’s more driving high beef prices than the more frequently cited liquidation and tight supplies.

“[A] look at the data readily reveals that market changes observed in [the] past few years are anything but one-dimensional,” they wrote in a new research paper. “One factor that has received less attention than others is the role of consumer demand for beef.”

The strength of consumer demand was especially highlighted between 2023 and 2024.

Beef supplies at retail increased 3% in 2024, to 28.72 billion pounds at a price of 801.3 cents per pound. The researchers’ analysis found that if demand were unchanged, that price would have been 726.7 cents per pound.