David Anderson - Professor & Economist, Texas A&M Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yeah, where's the beef? Seven fifty three? I know where
the beef is. I just don't like how much it
calls seven fifty three here on Houston's Borning News. David
Anderson is a professor and economist at Texas A and M.
You know, we've had restaurants charging eggs surcharges. Now the
price of eggs, thankfully is coming down, so hopefully that
comes to an end, David. But beef has been rather

(00:22):
high in price for quite some time. Do you think
that we've got businesses that are getting ready to pass
along a surcharge on steaks?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, I don't know about that. I think we've got
we've got supplies of beef. We don't have a problem
like we've had with bird flu on the egg side
of things. But you know, our cattle herds in the
US or are shrinking. We've got the fewest number of
cows since nineteen sixty one. We're producing less beef. So
from a supply standpoint, that keeps the pressure on for

(00:53):
high prices.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Okay, well, you know clearly it takes time to bring
beef to market. There is still a demand for the beef,
So why isn't there a greater supply. Why are we putting,
you know, more to the herd and creating more of
a supply for the demand.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, you know, we've got a smaller herd really because
of drought and low prices for ranchers relative to their cost.
You know, like everybody, we've seen higher costs and that
that coupled with drought around the US for a number
of years, has led us to have fewer cows to
have that shrinking herd. So that's what's driven this this

(01:30):
tighter and tighter supplies. We just haven't gotten quite to
the point yet where prices for ranchers are high enough
and the weather's good enough to get them to feel
good about expanding their herds.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Okay, that being the case, is going to be expensive.
I would think to bry beef for quite some time.
How high can you see prices going on things like steak?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, you know, our retail price kind of average price
last month according to CPI, was over eight dollars and
fifty cents for choice beef. You know, I think there's time.
I think that's gonna keep going up. And I'll tell
you why. It's because kind of seasonally we're hitting grilling season,
and so we already see that in the wholesale market
for things like Ribbi's and New York strips and lean beef,

(02:14):
for ground beef and hamburgers. You know, we hit grilling season,
we get a seasonal bump in prices, and that part
comes from the demand side, because we all like a
good steak and a good hamburger.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, we do, and I guess as long as I do,
I'll keep paying the price. Thank you, David, appreciate it.
Professor in econamas at Texas A and M. David Anderson