Retail Beef Prices Tumble To Record Low

Prices of beef at U.S. supermarkets dropped to their lowest level ever recorded in a monthly survey by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

The average price of six cuts of beef in 19 cities fell to $2.96 a pound on May 9 from $3.01 on April 11 and $3.15 a year earlier.

Swelling beef production and a rise in total meat supplies “kept pressure on beef and cattle prices, and in turn on average retail prices,” the NCBA said.

A drought in the Midwest and a surge in feed costs is causing ranchers to send more cows to market, adding to a cyclical increase in the size of the nation’s cattle herd and creating a beef glut, the cattlemen’s group said.

The average price of the six beef cuts on May 9 was down from a month earlier in 15 cities and up in four, the NCBA said.

Regular ground beef posted the lowest price at $1.43 a pound and lean ground beef was $1.83, the lowest national average since it was added to the survey in 1991.

Boneless chuck roll roast was $2.34 a pound, boneless round steak was $2.86, boneless top sirloin steak was $3.70 a pound, while T-bone steak topped the price scale at $5.61 a pound.