WICHITA, Kansas — Consumers can expect to pay 5 percent to 8 percent more at the meat counter next year regardless of whether they put beef, pork or chicken into their grocery carts, a market analyst said Friday.
Randy Blach, vice president for CattleFax, told nearly a thousand cattle producers attending the 100th convention of the Kansas Livestock Association that consumer meat prices will rise to record highs because livestock production has fallen dramatically after ranchers culled animals during this year's drought.
Ranchers sold livestock they couldn't afford to feed after the drought dried up pastures, cut hay production and drove up the price of corn and other feedstuffs.
The market analyst said roughly 70 percent of the nation's cattle herd has been affected by drought this year, the fourth in a row with drought in at least some key cattle-producing areas. This year's drought, which covered two-thirds of the nation at one point, has been among the worst in 100 years, he said.
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