Beef prices ease; egg prices zoom

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 4, 1993 by Patt Patterson

Beef prices have eased a bit compared with last year's at this time. Some of the drop is due to seasonal demand levels, but part is probably due to the U.S. Department of Agriculture report indicating that there are more cattle on feed today than there have been for the past 15 years. However, increased demand has kept pace with feedlot marketing. Some observers say beef is resurging after a long period of avoidance by many health-conscious consumers.

In mid-September egg prices took off, rising to as much as 50 percent over last year's at this time. Earlier in the month they had been as much as 14 percent below September 1992 levels.

Pork prices are running higher than last year's at this time because of an unexplained drop in the amount of hogs being marketed by the nation's farmers. They have not brought the number to market that they estimated earlier this year.

Expect tighter supplies of black tiger shrimp as high prices asked for overseas exports drive away many U.S. buyers. One reason for the price rise is increased Japanese demand, combined with lower harvests in some of the Pacific Rim countries that supply this species.

There's going to be lots of canned tomatoes available this year. Although the USDA lowered its estimates a bit, it still expects this year's pack to reach 12 percent above last year's large pack. California packers are expected to can 14 percent more than they did in 1992. There's plenty of frozen orange juice concentrate available despite increased consumption. Both retail and foodservice sales of orange juice have risen to post a 25-percent increase in product movement for this year.