GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Customers are making the switch from steak to chicken products due to rising prices of beef. Inflation has hit Americans hard and grocery bills have gone up. Forbes reported in April that the price of beef increased by 16 percent, the price of chicken increased by 13.4 percent, the price of eggs increased by 11.2 percent, the price of milk increased by 13.3 percent, the price of butter increased by 12.5 percent, the price of fresh fruits increased by 10.1 percent, and the price of fresh vegetables increased by 5.9 percent. Also, the cost of rice, pasta and cornmeal went up by 9.3 percent. Frozen and freeze-dried prepared food prices went up by 14 percent.
CNN has reported that poultry company Tyson said that “the demand for chicken is extremely strong.” The amounts of beef being purchased has decreased. Last quarter, the company noted that the average sales price for chicken climbed as the sales prices of beef and pork declined.
According to Tyson, the need for meat is still high. The company said, consumers are switching up the types of meat they buy because of inflation. To compensate for inflation, the company plans to sell lower-priced items and these items will be larger in quantity.
There are other retailers that have also noticed the trend of consumer purchasing habits. Kroger said in June, that their consumers are buying more off brand items because they are cheaper, along purchasing less beef and pork. In May, Walmart said customers are purchasing half gallon milk as opposed to whole gallon milk. They are changing from name-brand lunch and deli meat, along with bacon and dairy items to buying store brands which are much cheaper. Treehouse Foods is the lead manufacturer of store brands for Walmart and other retailers. This company said that their customers are looking at private labels because they are more cost efficient.
The National Chicken Council and others conducted a survey on chicken purchasing and consumption. The survey suggests that poultry will remain high on the market. The IRI gave data results from retail databases. The survey was authorized by the NCC and was performed online by IRI; 85 percent of people surveyed acknowledge that poultry prices have gone up since the beginning of the year. When asked why they think the price of chicken has gone up 52 percent of respondents blame higher gas prices, 44 percent of respondents blamed higher wages and supply chain issues and 42 percent of respondents blamed higher prices of chicken feed.
“U.S. consumers are being faced with higher costs for everything,” Tom Super, NCC’s senior vice president of communications, said. “However, the data show they are continuing to rely on chicken as a healthy and affordable protein source to feed their families.”
According to research that was done, even though the evidence that suggests that people are switching up their shopping trends from name brand to store brand and value size packs, 53 percent of interviewees are keeping chicken “center of the plate.”
Chris DuBois of the IRI, said “chicken is advantaged by the fact that Millennials buy more it than any other age groups, as well as the evidence that shows less price sensitivity for chicken than for other proteins.” Only 37 percent of people that were surveyed said they will continue to eat at home the same amount as they were before six months ago, 57 percent of people surveyed said they will eat more at home than they were six months ago, 40 percent of people surveyed said they will continue to order take-out from restaurants and 11 percent of people surveyed will increase going out for meals. During the last six months, 99 percent of interviewees said they use chicken for meals more than once a month. 88 percent of respondents said they use chicken for meals more than once a week.
People plan to purchase more chicken than other types of meat over the next year because of the health benefits of chicken. People can still get the same nutritional value from the protein as other meats.
When respondents were questioned about kinds of meat they plan to purchase during the course of the next six to 12 months, 37 percent of respondents stated that they to buy more chicken, 15 percent of respondents say they plan to purchase more beef and 14 percent of respondents plan to purchase pork.
