Market News & Headlines >> Retail Beef Prices Higher

etail beef prices shot higher in February according to new USDA data released Tuesday, while prices for other protein products were mixed.

The price of all fresh beef at retail was $5.278 in February, an all-time high, up from $5.044 in January and $4.909 a year ago. While the price of beef reflects a historically small cattle herd due in large part to drought, the pork consumer is not yet seeing the impact of the PED virus, or at least they didn’t in February. USDA reported the retail value of pork actually slipped to $3.727 in February, down from $3.758. That is still up from $3.491 a year ago, however, and it seems very likely to head higher from here given the meteoric rise in lean hog futures recently.

The price of a dozen eggs also dropped in February, to $1.998, down from $2.008 the prior month. 

In the poultry section, the retail chicken broiler composite price increased to $1.95294 a pound, up from $1.93842 in January but below last fall’s levels.

The price of a gallon of milk increased to $3.561, up from $3.552 in January and $3.48 a year ago.