By Livestock Marketing Information Center

The July Consumer Price Index (CPI) was recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the All-Items CPI was 2.9% higher than a year ago. This is the first time the inflation rate has been below 3% since March 2021 when it was 2.6%. In July, the Food CPI was 2.2% above last year, which is in line with the monthly year-over-year changes since the start of the year. The Meat CPI was up 3.1% in July, which is slightly higher than the increase of 2.0% seen a year ago. In July, the Poultry CPI was up 0.9%, which is similar to prior months.

Over the last several months, the all-fresh retail beef price has remained in the upper $7.00 per pound range and finally reached above the $8.00 per pound mark in July to $8.15 per pound, a record. Ground beef was $5.50 per pound in July, a record and 8% higher than last year. Prices for chucks and roasts both reached record levels in July. The chuck was up about 7% in July to $7.78 per pound, while roast was up almost 8% to $7.12 per pound. The round was $8.06 per pound in July, an increase of 5% from a year ago. Sirloin steaks increased 2% to a record price of $11.73 per pound in July.

The July retail pork price was $4.92 per pound, an increase of 4.6% from a year ago. Looking closer at the reported retail pork prices in July, bacon was $6.88 per pound, an increase of 10% from last year. The retail price for pork chops continues to hold steady in the mid-$4.00 per pound range, a trend that has been in place for several months. Ham prices have seen some strength recently with prices in the mid-to-upper $4.00 per pound range.

The retail composite chicken price was $2.42 per pound in July, a decrease of 3.6% from last year. Over the last year, the retail composite chicken price has ranged from about $2.40-$2.50 per pound. Leg prices (bone-in) were $1.79 per pound, down 11.8% from a year ago, and breast prices fell 4.7% to $3.95 per pound in July. The whole bird retail price was $1.99 per pound in July, up 5.1% from last year and only slightly below the record price of $2.01 per pound set two months earlier in May.