Beef prices reach record highs in Canada

The cost of beef continues to rise, reaching record highs on grocery store shelves ahead of the busiest time for many grocers and butchers before the holiday season.

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One kilogram of ground beef is now averaging at $13 compared to $10 in 2020. A sirloin steak is averaging around $22, compared to under $16 in 2016, according to Statistics Canada. 

Joel Orlik, owner of Wellington Butchery in Ottawa's west end, says saw the rises coming and ordered his cuts ahead of time. Even though he doesn't want to scare customers away, he knows where the market is at.

"We charge what we think we have to charge, but we're always cognizant of the fact that we're also the community store." he said.

Orlik considers Wellington Butchery a fine craft butcher but says over the years, the price difference isn't far off that of retail grocers.

"The grocery stores have been actually catching up to me on price. When they're selling something similar to our quality, they're not far off," said Orlik.

The beef market has seen other setbacks in the past, including mad cow disease 20 years ago and the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw cattle ranchers sell off most of their herds.

Sylvain Charlebois, a food distribution expert and professor at Dalhousie University, says the increasing prices is due in part to North American farmers parting ways with their herds due to an increased cost of feed. With the price of a steer up 64 percent since 2019, grocers, butchers and consumers are being being affected.

"They're likely going to rise even more, over the next couple of years unfortunately." Charlebois said.

"They went through a major crisis with mad cow 20 years ago, and when prices are up, a lot of people are saying, 'let's sell now. Let's get out and do something else.' That's really what's going on. that's why prices are so high. and who can blame them?"

Charlebois said the size of herds in Canada is at the same level as in 1987. In the United States, levels that high haven't been seen since 1951.

"Because of droughts, feed costs went up and when feed costs go up dramatically, cattle ranchers tend to sell off their herd," Charlebois said.

He believes with beef being priced the way it is, people will turn to other alternatives for their protein that are more reasonably priced during the holidays.

"I do think that turkeys are actually going to be priced appropriately this year, as we saw at Thanksgiving. In some parts of Ontario, we saw turkey sold at $0.90 a pound." Charlebois said.

"Beef is arguably one of the most volatile products at a supermarket. it's been like that for many years now."

Strong demand in North America for steaks and ground beef is also contributing to higher prices. Charlebois notes that if farmers don't reinvest in the market, prices will only continue to rise over the next two to three years.