Price of Beef at Retail Level Continues to Decelerate
Source: Telam
The price of beef at the retail level continued its process of deceleration during May, registering a monthly increase of 1.9% compared to the 3.5% recorded in April. This decrease in price growth puts it below the inflation rate of 7.8% for the month, according to a report from the Institute for the Promotion of Beef (Ipcva).
The interannual variation for beef prices in May stood at 70.3%, in contrast to the 114.2% increase reported by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the same period.
In terms of specific cuts, the largest price increases in May were observed in Ossobuco, with a rise of 6.6% compared to April, followed by common bait (5.1%) and shoulder (4.7%). On the other hand, common mince (0.5%), square (0.3%), and loin ball (0.1%) had the lowest increases.
Chicken meat, on the other hand, experienced a 1.6% drop in price compared to the average price in April, marking a significant slowdown compared to the 26.9% increase seen in the previous month. Despite the reduction in price, chicken meat still saw the highest year-on-year increase, reaching a total advance of 132.8%.
The price of pork breast rose by 5.9% in May compared to April and had a significant interannual increase of 90.2%.
When analyzing price variations in different sales points, butcher shops experienced a rise of 2.5%, while supermarkets saw an increase of 0.6%.
In terms of different meat categories, steer meat showed an overall increase of 1.8%, while steer, heifer, and veal experienced increases of 3.3% and 1.7%, respectively.
Comparing the prices of different meats, in the first four months of the year, beef had a significantly lower relative price (-21.7%) compared to the previous year’s levels, in contrast to poultry meat. In 2022, one could purchase 3.73 kilograms of whole fresh chicken with one kilogram of beef roast, but in the last month, the purchasing capacity decreased to 2.93 kilograms.
Furthermore, in comparison to pork brisket, the beef roast had a relative price 6% lower than a year ago. The purchasing power of beef also decreased from 1.51 to 1.42 kilograms of pork during the same time period.