Beef is as expensive as ever and demand just keeps growing. It shows in the futures markets and in dinner party conversations, where someone is going to try a paleo diet. On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live-cattle futures hit an all-time high last week, according to Business Insider, of $1.705 a pound. And how much people spend on beef is rising each year–up more than 5% from last year. Prices should remain high for the foreseeable future, with supply lagging demand.
Beef industry lobbyists should have a cigar. Just a few years ago people were running scared of beef, hearing echoes of heart disease in the grill’s sizzle. But the public perception of beef has rapidly shifted. Aided by powerful lobbyists, marketers, the popularity of diets like paleo, and the taste people just can’t quit, beef is back. It’s more and more–as the commercial says–what’s for dinner.
