Determinants of Wholesale Beef-Cut Prices

Key determinants of monthly wholesale prices for 12 beef cuts include the quantity of the specific cut, stickiness in prices, marketing costs, quantities of pork and chicken, and seasonality. Seasonal patterns across the respective cuts are very different. Relative to the price in December, prices at the wholesale level in other months can be as much as 6 percent lower to as much as 21 percent higher. Key Words: Wholesale prices, beef cuts, and seasonality Background Investigating retail demand for meat products, particularly beef, has been a preoccupation of agricultural economists for some time. During the past several years, research efforts have centered attention on structural changes in the demand for meat products at the retail level (Chalfant and Alston; Chavas; Eales and Unnevehu Moschini an