USDA: Soaring Meat Prices Likely To Stay High

WASHINGTON – Grocery shoppers facing sticker shock at the supermarket for beef, pork and other meats should get ready to pay even more, the federal government said Thursday, with high prices unlikely to ease anytime soon.

Estimates for the growth in retail prices for meats, many of which are sitting at record highs because of drought and diseases across the country, were increased by the Agriculture Department in August. The department now expects meat prices to rise 6.5 percent in 2014, up from 5.5 percent forecast a month earlier, and well ahead of the 20-year average increase of 2.9 percent.

The beef and veal category was revised upward to 8.5 percent this year, with pork slated to jump 8 percent. Poultry was unchanged at 3.5 percent.

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