Beef costs more than ever, but canadian people will not give that waste barbecue season

As Canadians fire their grills for a long weekend, one of the country’s most funded summer traditions is now facing an expensive turn: beef prices have increased by 25 per cent in the last one year, which has moved beyond inflation rate and has put the price of summer and stake in unwanted area.

Ground beef priced according to $ 14.67 per kg in May 2025 Latest data from Statistics CanadaA year ago recorded a 25 percent increase by more than $ 11.72 and above 1.7 percent of the country’s current inflation rate.

It is one of the busiest grilling holidays of the year in Canada at the end of the week, as family and friends gather in the backyard from cottage, campground and coast to the coast. Even the ground beef collides with historical heights, Canadians are not ready to let their nutritious burgers go, or trade it for Tofu.

If anything,, according to some analysts, trade stress and increasing movement to support local producers have only strengthened the demand for homegron beef.

“The demand for beef is unprecedented. This is actually a good news,” Kevin Grier, a Guelf, ONTS-based, economist who specializes in livestock, meat and grocery market analysis, told CBC News.

“If you want a person to blame, really blame the consumer because we keep coming back.”

Constant western dry herd

Spikes behind the price are some familiar factors: from the small herd Long drought in western Canada And high input cost for feed.

“The South -West Suscachewan and Southern Alberta are so dried that some of these farmers have not molested since the snow melted in April,” Stuart Smith said, a professor in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatoon in Saskatoon.

Smith said that some western producers are choosing the option to shrink their flock rather than absorbing the high cost of the feed, which is to be prepared from other provinces in some cases. With the possibility of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, many are choosing to downsize instead.

He said, “This is why we have seen this drop of half million heads of cattle in the last five years, as it has been drought very long in one of the areas with the highest number of livestock,” he said.

Some rankers see a reverse

Nevertheless, not every farmer is feeling pinch. Thanks to the strong demand, the growth of barbecue culture in popularity and a renewed pushed amidst the ongoing trade tensions, some cattle producers are looking at a rare reverse.

Unlike the previous cycles of food inflation, it is giving better returns to some producers.

“We don’t get to determine our prices,” said Lee Irwin, a cattle farmer outside Calgary.

He explained that Ranchers do not have much control over what they earn for their cattle. Instead, they are valuables, who accepts what he provides in the auction.

“So when consumers are ready to go out and pay high prices for beef, there is a trickle-down effect for primary producers,” he said. “We are selling our cattle at a high difference right now.”

Nevertheless, not all manufacturers have been able to take full advantage. After the back-to-back years drought, Irwin said that his operation did not receive enough spring rain to maintain a full herd this year.

“We are only walking about 20 heads,” he said. “Generally we will be from 30 to 60.”

The cost of cattle puts the butcher in a crunch

Some butchers said that the issue is not a shortage of cattle; This is the cost of buying them.

“We have no problem in being beef, but we have only received to pay high prices for them,” said Andy Tribunson, who runs Mount Brides slaughterhouse with her daughter and son in Mount Breeds, Onts. “I am thinking that it is about 15 to 20 percent more which it used to be.”

Despite passing those costs on the consumer, whether his stake, chak or whole bristed, beef has proved flexible. Jump in beef prices has not stopped shopkeepers or Vanabe Pit-Masters. instead, BBQ Culture is enjoying a fully developed hediTrade and Marketing Association Canada Beef says that since 1989, the demand for beef last year was only in 2020 and 2022.

“The demand is actually more, especially in summer,” Tribunson said, keeping in mind the slaughterhouses, often sees a lineup that takes out the showroom door on weekends.

“People want to get out, do their barbecue, and they want to entertain.”

If you want a person to blame, then actually blame the consumer because we keep coming back.– Kevin Grier, Livestock, Meat and Grocery Analyst

“And smoking meat has become very popular, so everyone excludes their smokers and they are also trying new things,” said their daughter Nicole Miller.

These conditions are expected to keep Beef prices high through at least 2027According to an industry report recently, with a little relief in sight. This projection flock underlines the slow and stable nature of reconstruction, which requires time to mature and reach the size of the market.

Experts suggest that consumers may need to prepare for a longer period of high prices, even producers work towards stabilizing the supply.

For now, summer barbecue comes at a premium, but it is a price that appears ready to pay Canadian.