Meating the demand Summer barbecue season sends beef prices soaring By: Temur Durrani   Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 7, 2020

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Grocers in Manitoba aren’t surprised by customers claiming sticker shock over surging beef prices this year.

Depending on who you ask, the reasons for the rising costs range from COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions to greedy grocers. Toss in high demand from summer’s barbecue season and you create the perfect storm for pricey porterhouses.

Data from Statistics Canada released Tuesday shows bumps across the board for all major cuts of beef with relative lows in costs for chicken and pork.

From April to May in Manitoba, stewing cuts jumped to $17.20 per kilogram from $13.50; sirloin cuts climbed to $24.04 from $17.84; and striploin cuts came to a staggering $31.57 from $18.15.

“To me, it appears the market’s on the greedy side this year,” said Canada’s leading food supply chain expert Sylvain Charlebois, from Dalhousie University.

“Beef’s always been an expensive product,” he said. “And with people at home and demands increasing — especially with summer barbecues — butchers and grocers are probably asking, ‘Why not charge more?’”

While data suggests costs for beef are soaring, chicken and pork prices are seeing drops up to 20 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

Charlebois says that’s because of the “trifecta of meat products” that compete with one another across markets in Canada.

“I’d say those gouging prices are suppliers, some of whom I’ve stopped working with myself because of how we really got to know them during COVID-19. If anyone’s price gouging, it’s not us.” — Munther Zeid, Food Fare owner

“Very rarely will you see all three — chicken, pork and beef — being on sale at the same time,” he said. “Beef’s popular now so the prices are higher, and I think they’ll keep increasing especially in places like Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec.”

“But personally,” said Charlebois, “I don’t think increased beef prices right now are all that much because of COVID-19.”

Local grocers in Winnipeg, however, disagree.

All three owner-managers from Cantor’s Meats, Food Fare and De Luca’s storefronts said rising beef costs are because of pandemic-related disruptions at meat processing abattoirs in Alberta and on the East Coast.

“Just like toilet paper, I didn’t even advertise beef on our flyers for April and May because of the possibility of not being able to meet demand,” said Food Fare’s owner Munther Zeid. “That being said, demand just kept increasing.”

Zeid said all five of his locations in the city saw significant bumps in meat orders since February — with home deliveries increasing from “a good day of 35 orders before the pandemic to maybe 100 per store every single day.”

“If anyone’s price gouging,” he said, “it’s not us.”

“I’d say those gouging prices are suppliers, some of whom I’ve stopped working with myself because of how we really got to know them during COVID-19.”

Ed Cantor from Cantor’s Grocery on Logan Avenue and Vince De Luca from De Luca’s on Portage Avenue said much the same.

“We’ve had to readjust our prices for beef three or four times just within June,” said Cantor.

“I know people have gotten shocked sometimes when they saw some prices earlier,” said De Luca. “The only reasons I can give are not having enough workforce at our suppliers’ locations.”

“But things are looking better,” added Cantor, who said he believes beef prices “are definitely, definitely, definitely going to go down eventually as things get normal.”

“People just have to be reasonable,” he said.

Temur.Durrani@freepress.mb.ca