September 5

9/5 – The summer might be coming to a close, but demand for ground beef and burgers is showing no signs of slowing. Blame it on the popularity of burgers and ground beef; even at elevated price levels, it is still the best value in the beef category. Beef 90s lean trimmings (USDA market), mostly from old dairy cows and Aussie imports, averaged $2.70 per pound for the 1st half of 2023 and are forecast to average a record-high $3.10 in the 2nd half of the year. That gives us a $2.90/lb average for all of 2023, up 7.6% from $2.69 in 2022. Conversely, beef 50s fat trimmings look to average $1.45 for the year in 2023, up 43.4% from 2022 levels, reflecting a decline in product availability due to lower fed-cattle slaughter levels. Putting the two trimmings forecasts together, the projected commodity cost for a typical 80/20 burger would be $2.54 per pound for 2023, up 11.6% from $2.28 in 2022.