Expensive beef cuts could be here to stay, according to a leading Wodonga butcher.
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High Street-based Hook and Cleaver owner Rex McKay has been weathering high beef prices for months but said butchers may have to pass on the added cost to consumers.
“They haven’t gone down, they’ve only got dearer,” he said.
“I’ve absorbed most of it, but it’s nearly at the stage where our prices have to go up.
“They’re not going to come back down again. I mean, they’re up for the long term now, I’d say.”
The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator was sitting on 705.75 cents per kilogram on Tuesday, having dropped from a peak of about 725 cents this month. International demand and drought in northern Australia caused a drop in herd numbers to about 26 million head, which has caused prices to surge.
“You’ve only got a certain amount of beef at the markets and you’ve just got to pay more to get it, it’s as simple as that,” Mr McKay said.
