LIVESTOCK AND GRAINS
Income pressures are front and centre in livestock trends – consumers want bang for their beef
Since the start of 2023, red meat prices have been under pressure. Our view is that this is a symptom of increased pressure on consumers' disposable income. In contrast to this, chicken prices have continued to hold firm. These divergent trends cause shifts in relative prices of meat products, which, in turn, also affects short-term spending patterns. Figure 2.1 shows price changes within the meat complex over the past eight years. In the figure, a price index for each product group has been created for ease of comparison between the different products, with December 2018 as the base period. Observations from this figure are the following: • Beef and chicken prices have followed the most consistent upward trend, with the trend for beef only losing momentum during 2019 as FMD issues emerged.
• Seasonal peaks in lamb prices have increased over the past three years.
• Large swings in pork prices continue to be a feature of the South African meat landscape.
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