Chicken prices drive meat and poultry inflation in August

Tony Goodger, head of communications at AIMS, said that while looking at the chicken category as a whole, it appears that consumers have moved to convenience in August, with prices of diced breast rising by 4.8%. Prices of BBQ and picnic favourites, such as thigh fillets, increased by 2.26%, and drumsticks rose by 2.67%.

“Add to this increased input costs for the poultry sector from feed, staff, energy and the ever-rising costs of security against hostile actors in this sector, and it is little wonder that production and processing costs will have contributed along the supply chain,” Mr Goodger added.

The report has found that beef prices showed an overall 0.4% increase across the month, with the price of roasting joints falling 4.5%, possibly as a result of supermarkets cutting prices to attract purchase, as consumers have switched from a roast to lighter meals, the expert explained.

Consumers may switch for pork and chicken

Mr Goodger continued: “The same is probably also true for lamb legs, which fell by 2.14%, however, pork leg did buck the trend with a neat 4% increase. With beef and lamb roasting joints both costing in excess of £15.00/kg, pork leg’s value for money at under £6.50/kg could have encouraged switching for the weekend roast.”

However, the 12-month inflation figures show across-the-board increases. The AIMS report places red meat and chicken inflation at 15.6% across the last year.

Mr Goodger explained: “Once again this is driven by beef, which is up by £4.95/kg (+32.9%) and now nudges almost £20.00/kg across the cuts analysed. In particular, mince, both lean (+48.4%) and standard (+37.0%), continue to show no sign of slowing down, whilst the prices for beef steaks also remain very bullish, apologies for the pun, up 27% on the year.”

The expert added that many market commentators, in particular colleagues at AHDB, have suggested that consumers may be looking to switch to pork and chicken. 

He said that chicken in particular, despite rising in price by 12.05% in the year, is very much the challenger protein to the red meats and fish, not just in terms of consumer perceptions of versatility and value for money coupled with quick cooking time, which uses less power, but also because it continues for many households to be a cost-of-living-crisis protein of choice.

“There are so many factors that are driving year-on-year meat and poultry inflation that the government must consider before the Autumn Budget if they wish to get overall food inflation under control,” Mr Goodger concluded.

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