Beef Demand Strong at the Grocery Store

When it comes to choosing proteins at the grocery store, support of beef remains strong. With banking uncertainty, interest rates increasing and inflation. consumers continue to choose beef according to Brad Kooima of Kooima Kooima Verilek Trading Incorporated, based in Sioux City Iowa. He says part of it might be pork not portraying flavor in what he says is a poor marketing campaign with pork, the other white meat, but he says there are other factors that are at play.

“One of those constants that we'd seen before COVID Was this relationship of how much beef do you sell at an H&R- hotel restaurant business and how much you sell retail through your Hy-Vee Fairway, whatever, okay, Costco and Walmart. And that percentage, some people estimate may have changed 10 to 12% during COVID. In other words, we regained a whole bunch of retail businesses where people watch the YouTube video, I suppose, learned how to cook a steak outside on the grill, and found out that it was actually pretty good. In fact, maybe it was better than what they could buy at a restaurant and they could probably do it twice a week for what it costs him to do it, you know, to go out. “

Additionally, he says household economics may be a reason for the strong beef demand.

‘Where you got a group of people I think, who are at an economic level that they say, Yeah, I'm gonna have a ribeye. I don't care what it cost. No, maybe I'm being a little exaggerated for effect, but I do think there's a bit of that two.”

Plus Kooima says that says foreign demand is good.