A good steak hasn’t cost this much in America since Ronald Reagan was president. A dwindling number of cattle and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average retail cost of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987.
Everything that’s produced is being consumed, said Kevin Good, an analyst at CattleFax, a Colorado-based information group. And prices likely will stay high for a couple of years as cattle producers start to rebuild their herds amid big questions about whether the Southwest and parts of the Midwest will see enough rain to replenish pastures.
“Here’s the problem,” Hendee said. “From the time that a bull meets a cow in the pasture until I get a T-bone out of the deal is two full years. And the market is still reeling from the 2009 and 2011 drought.”