Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
If you are preparing your food for this Memorial Day weekend and have visited the supermarkets, you will have noticed that the prices of meat is above other foods .
This is not a confusion , the price of food is rising and beef and pork are at the top of the list .
According to the Office of Economic Analysis the prices of the Food increased by 0.4% in March and 1% compared to the previous year . However, the price of pork jumped 2.6% in April and 4.8% if the we compare with the price it had a year ago. While the price of beef remained stable in the month but its price rose 3.3% compared to the same period but last year .
Is it Memorial Day’s fault?
Actually at this time of year the demand for pork and beef increases when more people decide to cook in their garden and make a meal for your family and friends. However, there are other reasons why the price of meat has increased more than other products:
After a year of a COVID pandemic – 19 meatpacking plants reported labor shortages following pandemic closures . The closure of meat processing plants in April 2020 caused the biggest drop since 1996 .
Also the opening of restaurants throughout the country raised the demand for meat, in addition the price of cereals and livestock feed increased due to transport costs and the increase in domestic demand .
At the beginning of May of this year, restaurants were struggling to maintain a steady supply of chicken meat after a poultry shortage .
Last year panic buying from the coronavirus pandemic led to meat shortages in April and many supermarket shelves were left empty after the supply chain broke .
Restaurants like Wendy’s elim They temporarily added hamburgers and meat products from their menu due to a shortage of fresh beef.
Prices in general increased 3.6% in April compared to the previous year according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Inflation was felt around the world as the price of meat increased by 5.1% according to the FAO and it was meat, poultry, fish and eggs the foods that increased the most in the United States in almost 50 years .
What about stimulus checks?
The payments that the federal government has delivered through the three rounds of the stimulus check caused money to exist in the pockets of consumers even though a large number had no employment which allowed us to continue buying food in supermarkets .
A winter storm
In February the supply of meat, especially chicken, declined after a large number of farms that are located in Texas and surrounding states had to close due to the presence of winter storm Uri . The region is the main chicken meat producing area in the country.
What does the attack on the Colonial pipeline have to do with it?
Fuel prices also rose during May after the Colonial pipeline registered a cyberattack that paralyzed the distribution of fuel throughout the east coast and thus prevented the transport of meat from taking place normally.
According to the price index the cost of energy increased by 24. 8% in April compared to last year when the pandemic started.
The good news is that at some point in the year meat prices will be so high that demand would decrease and prices will tend to fall.
Who wins and loses?
Although consumers are the ones who are paying a high price for meat, a phenomenon is also being registered where livestock producers have been receiving a lower price for their products so many are on the verge of bankruptcy.
The increase in the price of meat is benefiting the large meat packers that exist in the country such as Tyson, Cargill, National Beef Packing Company and JBS.
These companies control about 85% of the meat market and have been facing accusations of fixing the prices of the food they sell.
Just Cargill, which is the largest private company in the country, is having its most profitable year in its history by obtaining about $ 4, 300 millions of dollars of net income d uring the first nine months of its fiscal year , according to a report released by the Washington Post.
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