Soaring beef prices continue to take the sizzle out of backyard barbecuing.
And there appears to be no end in sight to the skyrocketing cost of beef.
At restaurants, the grocery store and the butcher shop, everyone is talking about beef prices hitting all-time highs.
“We have seen a massive increase in the cost of beef, as much as 40 per cent,” said Chris Jackson of Jackson’s Meat & Deli in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood on Sunday.
Drought-like conditions in eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan have been blamed for the poor yield of grain and grass needed to feed the cattle, causing some farmers to have to buy feed or use up stocked grain.
That in turn drives up the cost. And in some cases nervous farmers have been selling off cattle and not bringing in more stock due to the uncertain conditions.
Jackson, who runs the family butcher shop that is Vancouver’s oldest meat store, said for the past year the huge hike in the cost of beef has been difficult on everyone.
“Every time I sell a steak I have sticker shock,” he said of the price increase. “It is not good for us.”
And while poultry and pork prices have jumped, Jackson said those increases have been nothing like what is happening to beef.
“It is all beef, there is a shortage and people are paying the price.”
According to Statistics Canada, the price of 100 pounds of Alberta beef for slaughter in May rose by 36 per cent from a year ago, making for the highest price on record.
Restaurants are being hit hard as well.
At Moderne Burger on West Broadway in Vancouver, owner Peter Kokinis said skyrocketing beef prices are difficult to pass on to customers.
“It is not just the beef — bread and vegetables have gone up, too,” he said. The vegetable prices, he notes, will fluctuate, but he sees no end to the rising cost of beef.
Kokinis uses ground steak for his six-ounce burgers and said instead of jacking up the prices, they hope to just keep the customers coming through the doors.
”You just have to sell more to make the same,” he said. “Lettuce and tomatoes do change in price depending on where they come from, but beef just keeps going up.”
At the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, general manger Kevin Boon said global demand has created the price increases.
Boon noted that the current crisis can be traced back to at least 2005, when low beef prices caused many beef producers to sell their farms. “It came right down to where a lot weren’t making any money,” he said.
Beef production goes in three-year cycles, but Boon feels the huge price hikes may be over.
However, he said, ongoing drought conditions will definitely add to the cost in the future.
“Hay is in short supply,” he said. “I do believe prices have peaked, but of course with this drought it is hard to predict.”
And while the surge in beef prices is tough on consumers, Boon pointed out that farmers need to get a price to stay in business. “We were at the point (where) if prices didn’t go up, a lot of guys would be out of business,” he said.
As for the upcoming months, Boon said the price of feed could dictate where things go.
“It depends on where grain prices are this winter,” he said.
