Where's the relief? Ground beef prices hit record-high of $6.12 per pound

Independent

2 days ago

The cost of ground beef has hit a record high as Americans face ever-soaring grocery bills.
The dinner table staple jumped in price by around 12 percent from the previous year, shooting up from $5.47 in June 2024 to $6.12 in June 2025, according to federal government data released this month. The news is another blow for President Donald Trump's promise to bring grocery prices down.
Shrinking herds, drought conditions and the rise of imported beef have all been blamed for the cost hike.
Ground beef is not the only favorite foodstuff to see a surge in price in the past year, with the cost of eggs becoming a key talking point in the 2024 presidential election campaign.
But the problem may be more complicated to solve, experts warn.
'Beef is way more complicated than eggs,' Wells Fargo's chief agriculture economist Michael Swanson told CNN. 'The cattle industry is still the 'Wild West' of the protein market, whereas the egg market is more 'Corporate America' with its supply and demand management.'
Growing competition from other countries has also hit the domestic beef industry, experts say.
Imported beef from Latin America and Australia now accounts for roughly 8% of US beef consumption, according to Swanson. Unlike the U.S., Australia had a successful year in the beef market in 2024, producing a record 2.57 million tonnes and exporting record volumes and values of beef around the world, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.By comparison, the U.S. exported 1.29 million metric tons of beef in 2024, worth almost $10.5 billion, says the AFBF.
'It's a big change that we've seen this year that wasn't on anybody's playbook,' Swanson continued. 'Only a couple of years ago, we were net neutral, where we exported some and imported some.
'We'll continue to see more beef consumption in the United States being supplied by the world market, and they're happy to do it since we're the highest priced beef in the world.'
The new data also highlighted that the average price of an uncooked beef steak leapt to $11.49 per pound in June this year – an eight percent rise since last year. All uncooked ground beef products per pound have seen an 11 percent increase.
The healthier options, lean and extra lean ground beef, also experienced a jump, with the cost per pound shooting up from $6.89 to $7.67 – a more than 11 percent increase.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, cattle herd sizes are at their lowest levels in 74 years and ranching is not as profitable as it once was.
The cost of animal feed has also substantially impacted costs as droughts throughout large portions of U.S. ranchland have sapped pastures, leaving farmers with little option but to rely on more expensive feed for cattle instead of free-grazing grass, says the AFBF.