Rib eye or ground sausage, nary a cut of beef or pork has escaped rising prices. Strong demand for cattle and hogs amid weak supply is driving up prices for popular types of meat, although other food prices have been nearly flat.
“Beef and pork prices are rising because of supply-and-demand factors,” said Ephraim Leibtag, a food economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We have a country and a world coming out of a recession.”
The supply problem has been exacerbated by high feed costs for ranchers and hog producers, creating tight profit margins.
Cattle and corn prices have been moving in the same direction, said Ryan Turner a risk-management consultant with FCStone Group Inc. in Kansas City, Mo.
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