USDA predicts further rise in meat prices

According to the report, retail beef prices increased 0.7 percent from March to April 2025 , representing a compound annual increase of 8.5 percent. The total annual value is estimated to increase 6.6 percentage points, driven by tight supply and strong consumer demand. At the producer level , cattle
prices increased 3.5 percent from March to April, reaching 13.5 percent over the previous year. Meanwhile, wholesale beef prices also increased 4.3 percent in April and 8.7 percent over the previous year. The Department of Agriculture estimates that producer prices will increase 12.6 percent during 2025, while wholesale prices will increase 5.7 percent. But this continued rise in MEAT prices is also causing a concomitant increase in the prices of poultry such as chicken, which rose 0.9 percent in April and is 2.4 percent higher than last year. The rise is due to the so-called substitution effect in response to high beef prices, according to a U.S. government agency. An average increase of 2.1 percent is expected for chicken this year. While a kilogram of beef already exceeds 200 pesos and a kilogram of chicken costs between 100 and 110 pesos in public markets in Chiapas, the trend is the opposite for pork. Pork prices fell 1.3 percent in April, although they are still 1.3 percent above the level recorded in the same month in 2025. The Agriculture Department estimates that pork prices will decline slightly, by 0.2 percent, for the year, in line with the projected increase in pork production. These trends were announced during the 4th Intercontinental Congress in 2025.