Beef market dynamics Beef prices have followed an upward trend since 2019 and from 2021, rising beef prices have benefitted from persistently lower slaughter numbers that were underpinned by rising grain prices and elevated disease risk. From a consumption perspective, lower interest rates during 2020 supported beef consumption during the first part of the pandemic, but as the world emerged from COVID-19 and its associated lock- downs, inflationary pressures induced monetary policymakers around the globe to implement a rapidly increasing interest rate cycle. Higher interest rates combined with pressures such as energy
Beef Market Dynamics
and food costs weighing on consumers' disposable income have contributed to decreases in the carcass and calf prices apparent since the start of the year. In this regard, average A2/ A3 carcass prices have decreased by around 4% between January and February, whilst calf prices decreased
by around 6% in response to this.
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