Beef consumer trends

When consumers believe in beef, it pushes the market. The cattle markets were booming in 2021 thanks to the strong consumer demand. Signals point to another good year this year both domestically and internationally.

Norman Voyles, Jr. is the vice chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. He says the global demand for beef is as high as it’s ever been. For the first time, they’re expecting an export excess of two-billion dollars to three different markets this year, and total exports around 10-billion dollars.

"Exports across the globe are up significantly. It looks like we’re adding as much as $400 per fed animal because of those exports largely driven by variety meats that aren’t typically used by U.S. consumers," says Voyles. "Beef lips, tongues, things like that. People like beef and are glad to buy it."

Despite higher sticker prices on beef, consumers are still purchasing. According to a 2020 study by Kansas State University, consumers were becoming less sensitive to rising meat prices and were willing to pay more to ensure high-quality beef was in their shopping carts.

In the meantime, Voyles says alternative proteins have cut very little into the beef market.

"Very limited right now. And the reason for that, people tend to like something that is one ingredient. Beef is one ingredient," he says. "When you start talking about some of these alternative proteins, massive amounts of different ingredients go into making those. Folks like it simple, they like good taste, and you can’t beat a good steak or really good hamburger for that."