Beef is becoming a luxury as prices stay at record highs. They likely won’t come down until 2028, says expert

If you walked right past the meat aisle on your last trip to the grocery store, you’re not the only one. Beef is starting to feel like a luxury as prices stay at record highs, and there’s no end in sight for markups. Ground beef averaged about $6.70 per pound in March, nearly a dollar more than last year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Beef steaks, which cost an average of $12.73 per pound in March, are up 16% from a year ago. Prices have decreased slightly since January, according to the BLS, but don’t expect ground beef to return to $4 or $5 per pound anytime soon. In its most recent forecast, the USDA estimated that beef prices will climb 10.1% in 2026, though price inflation could vary between 2.8 to 18.3%. It’s easy to point out supply-side issues as the reason for higher prices. Beef cattle inventory is at a 75-year low, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, due to persistent drought, high interest rates, and rising production costs. As of January, the cattle inventory is down 8.2 million animals or 8.6% from 2020, a year before a persistent and extreme drought began to shrink herd sizes. Cattle numbers are expected to stay down until at least 2028, according the Farm Bureau. But the largest contributor to high prices is ever-increasing demand from American consumers, said Glynn Tonsor, professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University. “Meat is having a moment,” Tonsor told Fortune . Growing beef demand is part of a larger protein-frenzy in the U.S. in recent years as Americans turn to high-protein foods in an attempt to improve their health . New federal dietary guidelines recommend “prioritizing protein” and include it in every meal. Higher supply and demand are ultimately the reason for higher prices, explained Tonsor, who runs the Meat Demand Monitor, a project out of Kansas State that has surveyed the U.S. public about their preferences, views, and demand for meat every month since February 2020. Self-rep…