Steaks under threat from cost of fertiliser
Prices expected to stay high until at least 2024 as farmers cut back herds and slaughter cattle earlier
Supermarkets and restaurants are threatened with steak shortages as the surging cost of fertiliser and feed forces beef farmers to slaughter animals early. Meat processors said that households would be forced to opt for cheaper cuts such as mince as farmers cut back on the fertiliser needed to grow grass for their cows. Steak prices are up by 5 per cent on the year. Hawksmoor, the steakhouse chain, said it was paying 25 per cent more for steak than in spring last year.
SUPERMARKETS and restaurants are threatened with steak shortages as the surging cost of fertiliser and feed forces beef farmers to slaughter animals early.
Meat processors warned that households will be forced to opt for cheaper cuts of meat such as mince as farmers cut back on fertiliser needed to grow grass for their cows.
Wheat and cereals can be used as an alternative for cow feed but the price of these grains have also soared.
With little affordable feed, farmers will have to slaughter cattle earlier in the season when they are smaller and the meat is lower quality, industry bosses said.
Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, said this autumn would be “really messy” for farmers following the permanent closure of one of only two major fertiliser plants in the UK.
Mr Allen said: “Quite a few farmers will be short of feed going into the winter. The alternative would have been to feed wheat and cereals, and those prices are through the roof as well.
“It will be difficult to get the nice cuts and consistency of cuts.”
Supply shortages and higher costs are already showing in beef mince, where prices are up 17pc compared with last year, and risk having to rise another 10pc to keep farmers’ businesses viable, Mr Allen said.
He added that shoppers and diners are already beginning to swap out steaks, which are traditionally the source of most profit in the industry, for quality burgers.
Steak prices are up by 5pc on the year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), costing more than twice as much as mince per kilogram.
Mince cost £6.87 per kilogram on average in April, with the same weight of rump steak selling for £16.36.
Hawksmoor, the steakhouse chain, said it was paying 25pc more for steak than it was in spring last year. Will Beckett, the chief executive of Hawksmoor, said: “There have been massive changes in demand and supply over the past couple of years – in Covid people stopped eating in restaurants and started buying more beef in supermarkets. Now Europeans have started waking up to the types of cuts we like.
“And people have been driven out of farming over several years as profits fell, so there are fewer farmers and not enough cattle.
“We are paying around one quarter more for steak now than we were in spring last year. We are clear on what we want, we buy it for a fair price, we can afford to pay over the market price. But not everyone can afford to do that.”
Mr Allen said that higher prices are likely to be sustained until at least 2024 owing to the timescales involved in growing feed and in raising animals.
He said: “We are in this particular spell for a good 18 months, and that is as far forward as one can see.”
Farmers warned on Wednesday that Britain’s food supply is now “vulnerable” after CF Fertilisers announced it would shut down one of Britain’s largest ammonia plants, which provides crucial supplies of nitrogen fertiliser and carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hit global provisions as both are major exporters.
Similar pressures are ravaging the pork industry, as feed accounts for half of the cost of raising pigs.
Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said that the UK’S pig herd has already shrunk by one fifth as costs surge and labour is scarce. Sausages cost 11pc more in April than they did a year earlier, according to the ONS, with ham up more than one fifth.
Meanwhile, higher wheat costs are pushing up the cost of bread, with farmers choosing to prioritise growing grain for animal feed rather than spending more to produce milling wheat for human consumption. The cost of a standard white loaf jumped by 8pc between December and April, according to the ONS.