America’s vanishing cattle herd drives 15% price hikes for beef

While US inflation has cooled from its pandemic-era peak, prices at grocery store meat counters are skyrocketing with no relief in sight.

Beef costs have risen faster than most other items in the consumer price index, with the broad beef and veal category up 15% over the past year as of January. Uncooked ground beef reached a fresh record after soaring by the most since June 2020 in government data released Friday. The gains are a standout from the rest of the consumer grocery basket where things have broadly improved.