WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — Beef and veal remain the biggest food-price outlier in USDA’s 2026 outlook, keeping consumer costs elevated while cattle supplies remain tight. The USDA’s Economic Research Service forecasts beef and veal prices will rise 9.4 percent this year, more than triple the projected increase for all food.
Through August, beef and veal prices were 5.9 percent above a year earlier and averaged 8.7 percent higher through the first eight months of 2026. The category’s 20-year average annual increase is 4.5 percent.
Other animal proteins are showing much less inflation. USDA forecasts pork prices up 1.2 percent in 2026 and poultry up 1.0 percent, while the broader meats category rises 5.2 percent.
The gap reflects different supply conditions across livestock sectors. Beef prices remain tied to a historically tight cattle supply, while pork and poultry producers can generally expand output more quickly when market signals improve.
USDA’s midpoint forecast calls for beef and veal prices to rise another 4.7 percent in 2027. That remains above the agency’s overall food inflation forecast of 2.0 percent.
